COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (1993)
The waterways of Copenhagen make it one of the unique cultural cities of Northern Europe. Located on the site where Frederiksholms Kanal joins Inderhaven, this design for a new concert hall facility celebrates Copenhagen's waterways by actually allowing musical and cultural events to travel throughout Denmark upon its waters. The grand Concert Hall stands as a bold anchor upon the quays while the Auditorium and Copenhagen Philharmonic are each housed on floating barges. These barges can travel to any other port in Denmark, providing an extraordinary ability to introduce live music and cultural performances to communities which would otherwise never have such an opportunity. During the primary 'music season' for the city, these two barges remain secured to the quay, embracing each side of the main Concert Hall and becoming formal symmetrical 'wings,' much like the great traditional concert halls of Europe. For other occasions, however, the barges have the opportunity of turning sideways and engaging the Central Square in a variety of diverse configurations. In this way, the concert hall becomes a unique dynamic structure, ever changing throughout the year, even allowing one or both barges to take the great musical events of Copenhagen to distant regions lacking music halls of their own.
