Meistersingehalle
Nuremberg, Germany
In a recent international competition, architects Gilles Retsin and Stephan Markus Albrecht were selected from 20 finalists to design the extension of the Meistersingerhalle in Nuremberg, Germany. The architects collaborated with structural engineering firm Bollinger-Grohmann and environmental consultant Transsolar, with Sébastien Jouan and Mark Stroomer from TP providing the acoustic and scenographic design.
This hall, if constructed, could have been the world’s first concert hall built from cross-laminated timber (CLT).
Concrete is an ideal material type for performance spaces with its affordability and acoustic properties, but with its high carbon footprint, we acousticians who have been calling for thick concrete walls for years need to start thinking about alternative materials now as we move towards zero-carbon buildings in the next 20 years. The idea was to explore a renewable material and one of the oldest building materials in the world: wood. The world of architecture is already changing its view of wooden buildings - the trend started with residential construction and is now spreading to skyscrapers and cultural buildings.
The concert hall is located in the Bavarian state of Germany, known for being one of the largest forest regions in Europe. The wood supply had to be easy with locally purchased materials.
Year: 2018
Architects: Giles Retsin and Stephen Markus
Acoustic and Scenographic Design: Theatre Projects
Role of Sébastien Jouan: Technical project management and acoustic designer
Project description (Archdaily)
