Over the last century, Prague's music scene gave birth to several symphony orchestras. Ironically enough, the capital has not built any new concert halls over that same period. The Dvořák Hall at the Rudolfinum (from 1885) and the younger Smetana Hall at Municipal House (from 1912) may have been extensively modernised, but they are still historic halls lacking the space and technical standards required for 21st-century symphonic music. The new Vltava Philharmonic Hall, the design of which has been chosen by Prague in an international architectural competition, should provide exactly that.
The exhibition hosted by the Centre for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning to present the competition entries for Vltava Philharmonic Hall provides a detailed insight into the results of the international architectural competition, which attracted 120 teams from 25 countries. The finalists, selected by an expert jury, submitted 19 competition designs, with the winner announced in May this year. Visitors can now view all of the competition projects in the Black Hall – information about the designs is conveyed via a large-screen projection, physical models, a detailed comparative touch panel viewer, and a freely accessible catalogue complete with project cards. The exhibition also includes the international jury’s detailed appraisal. The White Hall features the work entered by the winning team – the Danish architectural studio Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), which, in addition to its home city of Copenhagen, also has offices in London, New York, Barcelona and Shenzhen. Here, visitors can watch an interview with the studio's founder, Bjarke Ingels, and learn more about one of Prague’s future icons directly from one of its main architects.
We would like to thank our colleagues from the Prague Institute of Planning and Development, Prague City Hall, and the Vltava Philharmonic Hall project team for their helpfulness and assistance in preparing the exhibition of the competition designs for Prague’s new concert hall. Our thanks also go to the competition teams, jury members, and all invited experts who were involved in this unique international competition
