Aarhus Symfonisk Sal High Quality with Modest Resources

by  Ed Arenius     |     partner     |     November 16, 2010

Palle Kjeldgaard, the General Manager of Aarhus Symfoniorkester says, “This is acoustically the best concert hall in Denmark, and definitely one of the top three in Scandinavia - alongside the hall in Goteborg, Sweden and the Artec hall in Lahti, Finland. It was amazing the level of quality that was achieved here with modest resources.”

I agree. Its amazing - in fact, it’s nothing short of miraculous given how modest the budget was.

But this sort of miracle comes with hard work and a lot of collaborative thinking. The care undertaken by Architect Klaus Toustrup of C.f. Moller and his team to be sure that the hall was working technically and acoustically as well as aesthetically was commendable and memorable. The quality and functionality achieved on the modest resources and short time available to the project team is something of which we are extremely proud. We were able to achieve our signature acoustic adjustability on an extremely tight budget by employing innovative systems that retain the flexibility and operational ease for which we are known.

Architecturally and functionally the challenge to connect the new Symfonisk Sal to the existing Musikhuset Aarhus was a complex exercise that the entire design team solved seamlessly. Most memorable and complex was solving the level connections to the new concert hall outside and inside the hall. This led us to alter our original conception of the room in a very positive way by raising the back of the main floor which gives the space an extremely intimate and surprisingly different perspective when entering the hall.

We are very happy for the people of Aarhus and our friends at the orchestra and we’re doubly happy that they’ll be inaugurating a new Klais organ this fall completing the hall.