Opening Year | 2021 |
Location | Warsaw, Poland |
Capacity | 320 seats |
Architect | KONIOR STUDIO Tomasz Konior |
Owner/User | Zespół Państwowych Szkół Muzycznych Nr 1 w Warszawie (State Music School Complex No. 1) |
The new headquarter of the State Music School Complex ZPSM Nr 1 in Poland’s capital Warsaw is located in a refurbished neo Gothic red brick building augmented by a new extension on the adjacent plot. The extension includes various practice and teaching rooms, as well as the brand new 320-seat concert hall designed for the school’s student ensembles and performers, as well as guest performances.
The architectural design was awarded in 2015 to Tomasz Konior (Konior Studio), with Nagata Acoustics providing room acoustical consulting services specifically for the new hall. The hall in inscribed in a strictly circular footprint. To prevent detrimental sound focusing and favor diffused sound reflections, the circular shape is broken down and reversed with convex interior walls and reflectors. The tall sail-like panels drape down from the 14m-high ceiling. By leaving ample openings around the reflectors, the large drum volume behind remains an effective part of the total room air volume of the hall, thus offering an exceptionally rich yet balanced reverberance. Most of the audience is seating in front of the stage in a single-tier amphitheater with a steep rake, but a rows of terraced seating was added to the sides and behind the stage to enhance the compactness of the hall.
Construction began on site in late 2017, and was completed in September 2020, ready for the school’s moving in. The concert hall finally opened to the public in September 2021.