January 11, 2018

3242 GERMANY (Hamburg) - Elbphilharmonie


Located on the Grasbrook peninsula of the Elbe River, the Elbphilharmonie (Elbe Philharmonic Hall) is one of the largest and most acoustically advanced concert halls in the world, inaugurated on 11 January 2017. The new glassy construction resembles a hoisted sail, water wave or quartz crystal, and was designed by architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron. It is the tallest inhabited building in Hamburg, with a final height of 108m. The original 1966 brick façade of the Kaispeicher A, formerly a warehouse, was retained at the base of the building.

About one thousand glass windows are curved. The building has 26 floors with the first eight floors within the brick façade. A curved escalator from the main entrance at the east side connects the ground floor with an observation deck, the Plaza, at the 8th floor, the top of the brick section. The easternmost part of the building is rented by Westin as the Westin Hamburg Hotel that opened in 2016. The complex also houses conference rooms, restaurants, bars, and a spa.

The Elbphilharmonie has three concert venues. The Great Concert Hall can accommodate 2,100 visitors whereby the performers are in the center of the hall surrounded by the audience in the vineyard style arrangement. The acoustics were designed by Yasuhisa Toyota who installed about 10,000 individually microshaped drywall plates to disperse sound waves. The Recital Hall is intended for the performance of recitals, chamber music and jazz concerts; it can hold an audience of 550 people.

About the stamps
The stamps are part of the series Blumen, about which I wrote here.

References
Elbphilharmonie - Wikipedia
Elbphilharmonie - Official website

Sender: Jorn Hegner (direct swap)
Sent from Hamburg (Hamburg / Germany), on 30.12.2017
Photo: Andi Graf

No comments:

Post a Comment