The China Philharmonic Orchestra recently announced the China Philharmonic Orchestra Concert Hall designed by Ma Yansong's MAD and international acoustics master Yasuhisa Toyota. This is the first permanent base and main performance venue established by the China Philharmonic Orchestra, and it will also be the most important concert hall for first-class symphony orchestras from all over the world to perform in China.

Release site: (from left to right) Ma Yansong (Partner of MAD), Yu Long (Artistic Director/Chief Conductor of China Philharmonic Orchestra), Yasuhisa Toyota (International Acoustics Master), Li Nan (President of China Philharmonic Orchestra), Liu Jun (Executive Vice President)

Press conference host Bai Yansong

Ma Yansong explains the design concept

Conference site

The China Philharmonic Orchestra is a national symphony orchestra, which was once selected as one of the "Top Ten Most Influential Orchestras in the World" by the British magazine Gramophone. The current head of the orchestra is Li Nan, and Yu Long serves as the artistic director and chief conductor. The China Philharmonic Orchestra Concert Hall was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission and is a key project of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. It is located on the south side of the east gate of the Workers' Stadium in Chaoyang District, Beijing, covering an area of ​​11,600 square meters and a construction area of ​​26,587 square meters. After completion, it will become a world-class professional concert hall located in Beijing.

Located in the bustling Sanlitun business district, MAD hopes to design this concert hall into a cultural palace hidden in the city. "It is like a holy garden in the downtown area." Architect Ma Yansong introduced, "The moment you enter the concert hall, it takes you to another time and space." In order to achieve the extremely high acoustic effect of the concert hall, acoustic master Toyota Yasuhisa will be in charge of the sound field design inside the concert hall. He has presided over the acoustic design of world-class concert halls such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Paris Philharmonic Hall, and the Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

The main building of the concert hall is surrounded by a lush green forest and a lotus pond on the south side. The translucent curtain vaguely emerges from the jungle. When people pass through the city and the jungle, they will be attracted by this white and holy light like jade.

Entering the lobby of the concert hall, before the performance begins, people seem to be in a breathing light space installation; during the day, natural light penetrates through the white translucent exterior walls and diffuses into this simple space. The audience from the city seems to be bathed in light here, ready to begin a journey of music, nature, and self-discovery.

Entering the 1,600-seat main concert hall, the interior adopts a space layout that embraces a vineyard. The wooden pool seat of the concert hall is in a natural form, and the white sound reflection panels on the ceiling are arranged like lotus petals. Natural light shines from the sky, and the audience seems to be in a budding flower. When the music plays, the light and surround projection can change accordingly, as if you are in the natural landscape. This is an extremely abstract space, which takes the audience to any scene far away from the city and the hustle and bustle through light and images.

Close to the lotus pond on the south side, the concert hall also has a large rehearsal hall with 400 seats. The dark multi-curved wooden walls used on the interior walls are used for sound reflection and absorption, and the elevating sound-reflecting panels behind the stage can bring outdoor natural light and greenery into the interior space.

Other components of the concert hall include a large professional recording studio, as well as the China Philharmonic Orchestra's resident office space, rehearsal hall, library, information room, archive room and other auxiliary function spaces.

The China Philharmonic Orchestra Concert Hall designed by MAD will start construction soon and is expected to be completed in 2019. It is a concert hall that pursues oriental artistic conception in a bustling city, challenging the traditional concert hall as a fixed spatial form for Western classical music performances, hoping to create a place where people, nature and music meet.