How Walt Disney Concert Hall Was Designed To Have Pitch Perfect Acoustics | Architectural Digest

I'm Valerie Augustine and I'm an architect and today we're doing a walking tour of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, so the Disney Concert Hall was

designed

in 1987 and was originally funded by a generous donation from Lillian Disney. It is

designed

by architect Frank Gehry, born in Canada and based in Los Angeles. The construction process of this building is incredibly unique. One of the things you will see when you look at this building is that it was clad in steel panels when it was originally designed. The original tent was going to be clad in stone, but during the design process one of the first things they discovered was that the stone panels were going to be incredibly heavy and would greatly increase the cost and size of the steel structure. more expensive than they needed, so they switched to steel panels, which also coincides with the fact that between the time of this building's design and the time its construction began, Frank Gary had completed the Guggenheim in Bilbao , one of their most famous projects at the time were clad in metal panels and each of the building's panels is unique now, these particular types of shapes cannot be designed with traditional

architectural

means, they basically had to invent new technologies to build . a building like this, one of the things they pioneered in the design of this building is the use of a software called Catia that was originally used to design airplanes and ships.

Many people consider it a deconstructivist style building, which is a type of building that is really characterized by non-linear shapes, a lot of curved geometry, and the use of glass and other similar materials. The

concert

hall

was built because originally the Los Angeles Philharmonic played across the street at the music center, but it was time for the Philharmonic to

have

a Hall specially designed to play symphonic music. Now, one of the interesting things about the project is that the first thing that was built was the parking lot, which allowed the building to generate funds before the

concert

hall

was even opened to help. finance the cost of construction at this time we are in the main entrance lobby.

Frank Gary likes to talk about when he met Lillian Disney and she told him that she really wanted the place to feel like a home and that's how Frank interpreted it to me. was that she really wanted a building that felt warm and welcoming because this building is really supposed to be a gift to the people of Los Angeles and that is really reflected through the use of the many materials that we see inside the building, floor. it uses travertine and one of the other important components of this building is the use of Douglas fir which covers some of the columns and then also some of the services that you see in the building, so the entrance returns are hidden within them In addition to providing warmth for the building, they also perform an important functional use.

The interesting thing about Douglas fir is that it's also the same wood used for symphonic instruments, so there's a lot of symmetry there that Frank Gary was aware of when he made those design decisions and a couple of other things. What you can see in this lobby that is really surprising is that instead of hiding the structure, the architect actually celebrates the structure within the building, much of the steel is visible and you can see that it is painted gray and that the paint It is actually a fire. fire retardant, this material actually swells to protect the steel and keep people safe.

Another really interesting part of this building is that the entire front façade can be opened with scissors, allowing people to come and go during the summer months. the building directly onto Grand Avenue Another great thing you can see in this space is Frank Gary's dedication to really creating a building that is open and provides visibility to both the city and the overall space, so starting from the lowest level high you

have

access. the auditorium which also offers views of the city and also leads us to the cafeteria dining area and also to the access to the parking lot that we talked about before.

Thank you, so here we are in the founders room, which is a special place. space at Disney Concert Hall for donors who have given more than one hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars to the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Now this room is the only room in the building that is not open to the general public and one of the things you will notice is What in this room is very similar to the entire concert hall is that the space is connected to the outside, so one of the things that the architects were really adamant about was making sure that even though it's an intuitive experience, each room has access and visibility to the outside, another thing you'll notice here is this beautiful rug.

This rug was a special custom design that was made specifically for the concert hall and really embodies some of the important aspects that Frank Gary talked about with Lillian Disney and that was to Once again, create a building that is truly warm and inviting. for all Angelenos. You can find this carpet throughout the concert hall, so the floor will be travertine or this beautiful carpet that you see behind us, the ceiling, they are special spaces. Unique now, this space is treated differently than drywall, which is a traditional cladding material for the interior of the building, but here they made a special plaster finish, which is the only way to achieve these sensual curves that we see in this space and if you look more.

Up close you can see the finish of the plaster because there's a little bit of shine that you're going to get when you use plaster that you don't get when you paint a surface right now, we're on one. one of my favorite spaces in the Disney Concert Hall and that is the Blue Ribbon Garden, the Blue Ribbon Garden was an important part of this building because it really speaks to the idea that this building really is a gift to the city of Los Angeles, it is open to all Angelenos. Any day of the year you can come here and have lunch and have a view of the city behind us.

Another thing you can see behind us is one of the most impressive parts of this garden and it is the Blue Ribbon Fountain, which is called a rose for Lily now this is a special story that came up during Frank Gary's interaction with Lily and Disney on a visit to her home saw that she had many pieces of fake Delft porcelain apparently it was something she and her husband Walt would enjoy she was buying fake pieces of porcelain to see if her friends could spot The Fakes now this became a wonderful story between Lillian and Frank and decided it would be a wonderful and more appropriate way to create this font, so she worked with Frank Gary. the artist Tomas Osinski and his wife Iwa together with eight other artists to see the fountain that we see behind us.

More than 200 Delft royal blue vases were broken during the making of this fountain. You can also find 60 Easter eggs that include pieces of porcelain by the artist. personal home, as well as a depiction of Frank Gary, another thing you can see here at the Blue Ribbon Garden is a close-up view of the steel panels that cover this building. One of the interesting things about the design is that you will see the fact that the panels overlap in the same way that bird feathers or fish scales work, this allows water to spill out of the building without worrying about a water intrusion into the interior of the space, now one of the challenges that happened when this building was built.

The first design was that there were two types of finishes on these panels: the matte finish you see next to me and also highly reflective chrome finish panels. The chrome finished panels were actually too reflective of the nearby residences, which meant those panels had to be sanded. no longer cause damage to nearby buildings, accessible from the Blue Ribbon Garden, there is a public walk that takes you around the facade of the Disney Concert Hall, offering a view of all of downtown Los Angeles, so behind me you can see the BP Hall, which is a special performance and conference space in the corner of the Disney Concert Hall.

Now one of the best things about this space is that you can actually see the use of Douglas fir being used throughout the building, oriented and attached in the same way as the exterior. The cladding on the building is so you can really see here the attention to detail that the architects put into every level of the design to make sure the entire building is cohesive and you can also see it in other parts of the buildings including the founders wall where the donor panels are covered with tiles and overlapped in the same way we see on the exterior of the building.

Another thing you'll notice if you look closer is that some of the panels are solid Douglas fir, while others have small perforations - that's what allows this space to function acoustically when a conference or performance is taking place. The amazing thing about the skylights in this building is that they have a dual function during the day, they bring abundant natural light into the space, but at night the lights from the building make the entire building a beacon for the entire city, so We're right outside the auditorium. The auditorium now seats 2,265 and the

acoustics

were designed specifically for the Philharmonic's music.

Now acoustic design could not have been achieved without experts and Frank Gary recruited world-renowned artists. Acoustic designer Yasuhisa Toyota from Japan will design the auditorium now, the same way the space is designed, from any seat in the auditorium you will get

perfect

sound from the stage, so there are no bad seats in this auditorium, the interior of the auditorium in In addition to being acoustically

perfect

, it is also incredibly beautiful, the interior panels are curved to help the sound reach all points of the auditorium and it also uses the same Douglas fir that we see outside in the lobby and in other spaces, now one of the most striking. pieces of the auditorium is the organ, the organ has more than six thousand pipes and is often known as French fries, so if you are hungry when you are at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, now you know why the roof of the auditorium is beautifully sloped and ribbed, which helps

acoustics

and sound travel throughout the space.

Now, the interior design of the space is also unique to Walt Disney Concert Hall and the way the seating is designed allows for optimal viewing and sound. What we will find on the interior seats is the same pattern that was created for the custom carpet we are standing on now.