World’s Greatest Concert Hall | Megastructures | Free Documentary

in one of Europe's busiest ports workers are battling to construct a concert hall to rival the best in the world but work isn't going to plan the building is seven years late well frankly it's a big mess ten times over budget basically we knew that there is no failure allowed and threatening to destroy everyone's reputation if the Sun was not correct we have to do hurricane it's an ambitious project to construct a unique 18-story building on top of an old warehouse to create perfect acoustics Wow in one of the noisiest places on earth some of the world's greatest architects and engineers are using ingenious solutions a model the size of a small house 150,000 tons of concrete and thousands of custom-made components can they create against the odds the greatest concert hall in the world Hamburg is Germany's second largest city but it's relatively unknown around the world as part of the development of its old dockland Hamburg plans to celebrate its musical heritage with an iconic structure the city that gave birth to Brahms Mendelssohn and even launched the Beatles once a world-class concert hall to put it on the map [Music] situated on the banks of the river Elbe the Elbe Philemon evil tower 26 stories high making it the tallest building in the city and a symbol of Hamburg it's story began in 2001 when property developer Alexander girar saw an opportunity to develop a disused 1960s warehouse in Hamburg's old docks well it was just smaller less what you see now it was a building with very little windows for ventilation purposes and then you had these these balconies which you could drop so that you could bring the goods inside we did not want to have the building knocked down so we had to look for a use which meant no daylight if you wanted to keep the facade Zera new of one type of building that didn't need windows we knew has concertgoers that hamburg had lost two big concert halls during the Second World War Hamburg was lacking an important part of its music infrastructure and this led to the proposal of building a new concert hall Geron travelled to Basel in Switzerland [Music] to present the idea to the architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de niro famous for designing the Tate Modern in London and the Olympic Games bird's nest stadium in Beijing but would some of the most innovative architects in the world stake their reputations on rebuilding an old brick box and we said yes we would love to do this beautiful ever done a concert hall delighted they were interested Girard took them to see the brick warehouse and Jacques and I and him we were standing on the roof of this building what they saw was a fantastic location with 360 degree views of the city the perfect spot for a landmark building the original idea was that the concert halls would be inside the old structure and grow out of it but the architects had something very different in mind he sort of made a sketch of what it could look like with this quick sketch Gerard's idea was literally turned inside out his beloved brick warehouse was about to become a plinth instead of building the concert hall inside the warehouse Hertzog and amiran would build it on top the concept is radical entering the building visitors will ride the longest curved edge later in Europe to a scenic roof terrace on top of the warehouse above this will be the centerpiece of the building the main concert hall with steep terraces seating 2100 Lidl built around it will be 45 apartments shops restaurants and a luxury hotel all wrapped in shimmering glass walls that rise to Peaks like cresting wave when Hertzog interneuron unveiled their designs to the citizens of hamburg in june 2003 they created a sensation people really loved it and it was published in newspapers and there was a movement bottom-up a lot of down bottom up we want that the Senate of the city of Hamburg in December 2003 unanimously cast a vote to go ahead with a project in April 2007 after four years of planning and construction again but the costs are already rising from an initial estimate of 77 million euros to 272 million or about 360 million US dollars having a groundbreaking design and a spectacular location isn't enough to be the world's greatest concert hall they can't just look the best it will have to sound the best too and for that they needed one of the world's top acoustic designers we invited acoustical engineers from all over the world American British Australian Japanese in California they approached the man who had recently completed Los Angeles's acclaimed Walt Disney Concert Hall a man excited by working with some of the world's most adventurous architects Yasu he's a toyota the design by the architect is quite unique very very exciting the first time that we see this kind of unique design and so it's a very very challenging you here but it wasn't just the architects ambitious designs that posed a challenge for mr. Toyota it was also the location of the bill with the bustling CityCentre on one side and Germany's busiest port on the other nine thousand ships transport over 130 million tons of cargo and half a million passengers through these docks each year ships horns are the biggest problem there low-frequency sound can be heard over four kilometres away and can penetrate even very thick concrete today mr. Toyota is going to find out firsthand just what he's up against Wow it's your first time on the blood show for yes yes sure you can see this hinder yeah so you have to put a handle only in this direction Oh and then you start all very simple sir I yeah of course okay don't be shy Wow very easy if you like we can go outside you can feel the difference between here between outside for the full effect mr. Toyota needs to stand directly in front of the hall if you're ready you can do it now Wow this is loud it is yeah actually this is a very very good experience I mean mr. Toyota's problem is that even if they build the concert hall with very thick walls low-frequency sound will vibrate the concrete and be transmitted to the inside his solution is soundproofing on an unprecedented scale the plan is to build not just one vast concrete concert hall but two one inside the other in a double wall construction the outer concrete wall can reduce the sound of the fall corns enough that it will become too weak to penetrate the inner wall ensuring the concert hall remains insulated from outside sounds great in theory that many would say attempting this classic soundproofing trick of such a vast scale is all but impossible June 2010 work on the outer concrete shell of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall is nearly complete and construction of the inner shell is well underway [Music] bolte to the inner shell a matrix of steel girders will support the stage and seating areas a steady stream of lorries delivers concrete to the site giant cranes winch it 100 metres above the ground so workers can pour it into molds filled with steel reinforcement bars to build up the walls to complete the building including the 2100 seat concert hall 244 room hotel and 45 apartments it's going to take 63 thousand cubic meters of concrete weighing about 150,000 tons and 18,000 tons of steel with its unique ambitious design it's proving much trickier to constructs than expected the geometry of the hall is already very complex and now you have to create this like a second skin almost an egg in an egg it's becoming clear of the original target to open the concert hall by the end of the year isn't going to be met [Music] the acoustic designer mr. Toyota is keen to check up on progress in particular on one specific feature of his design on which of the success of his whole plan depends [Music] with all its steel and concrete the concert hall will weigh 12 and a half thousand tons and it can't simply float in thin air it has to be supported somehow but solid legs would transmit sound vibrations into the concert hall so instead of legs they have decided to use giant Springs the architects project manager Nick Lyons is overseeing the construction okay at the moment we're in between the inner skin and the outer skin of the concert hall the acoustic concept was to detach in a concert hall from the rest of building the springs are responsible for isolating the inner concrete skin from the outer concrete skin the giant springs between the two walls should absorb any sound vibration here you can actually see one of the spring packages the bottom part attached firmly to the outer skin the top part attached firmly to the inner skin and in between behind this flap you can see the actual springs inside it will take 362 Springs each 30 centimetres long to support the weight of the hall [Music] mr. Toyota hopes this will create a perfectly soundproof concert hall but in the process they have created a serious headache for the project structural engineers with all this added weight the new building will weigh an astonishing 200,000 tons that's the weight of two and a half large cruise ships with most of that way to be supported on an old brick warehouse so keeping only the facade they had to demolish the interior of the building and rebuild it new massive concrete pillars running through the structure provides support for the weight above a giant spiral ramp provides access for vehicles the interior space originally planned for the concert hall has become a seven story car park we don't store anymore cacao or caffeine but do we store cars [Music] with the soundproofing challenge dealt with mr. Toyota can get on with the job of making this the greatest sounding concert hall on earth a notoriously difficult problem that many great designers in the past have got badly wrong when New York's Philharmonic Hall opened in 1962 critics panned it the cost to improve its acoustics four million dollars when San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall opened in 1980 it too was a critical failure cost to improve its acoustics ten million dollars and there have been many other concert halls built with poor acoustics that cost millions to improve the stakes are high as Hertzog into neurons lead architect ask an merchant Allah knows only too well we were very worried from the very first moment you know that this i mean basically we knew that there is no failure allowed you know it has to work the safest option for the architects would be to copy the design of some of the world's best concert halls these classic venues are all rectangular a shape popularly known as shoe box so you have the orchestra on the stage in the front like this so it's like the two of us it's looking at each other but Hertzog and amiran are not known for playing safe they want their audience to have a more immersive experience so we tried to take inspiration for other from other places also especially from stadia from stadiums where we always admired the proximity of the spectator to the pitch so having in the center the orchestra the podium the stage and the listeners around so as well as building the concert hall in the middle of Germany's busiest port mr. toyota knows that a shoe box shape that everyone knows will work is not an option he's got to make this in the round concert hall sound the best in the world just as well he has a sense of humor if the Sun was not correct then a priori we have to do harakiri stadiums aren't known for their classical music acoustics so the stadium like Elbphilharmonie is going to need some clever design to achieve just the right amount of echoes known to acoustic designers as reverberation Jeff Alpert is an American percussionist living in Hamburg to demonstrate how important reverberation is today he will play his vibraphone in two very different venues Wow it's completely dead in here there's absolutely no reverberation at all so we'll see how the vibraphone sounds in here this is an anechoic chamber a room with no reverberation the walls ceiling and even the floor are carefully designed to absorb sound waves there's really absolutely no echo at all and that's quite strange even when you're speaking you you don't even hear any kind of echo coming from your voice I don't think any musician would enjoy playing in a room like this for very long for musicians is a very important part of playing is to be able to listen and in a room like this I think it would be very hard to to hear each other a good acoustic brings warmth to music and in a room like this you don't get that at all to demonstrate the other extreme Jeff sets up his viral phone in st. michaelis hamburg's largest Church in a large space with hard walls sound behaves in a completely different way [Music] when Alpert plays a note on his vibraphone it sends out sound in all directions with the church's hard surfaces the sound continues to bounce from wall to wall for several seconds you can hear of about three or four seconds where echoes comparing the sounds of the church with the anechoic chamber it's easy to hear the difference [Music] if there's too much reverberation the sound can become mushy as individual notes blend with the repeats of the notes just played the perfect concert hole I think would have to be something right in the middle and that would mean also that the the reverberation is not too long like it is here and but it has to be a lot more than it would be in the anechoic chamber to create the ideal reverberation in the concert hall the architects must work closely with the acoustic designer mr. Toyota to perfect the size and shape of the walls and the materials used on every surface for us working with models is absolutely crucial and they really working models they're not presentation models yeah I would say we may be created over over 100 models using the models the architects honed the layout and shapes of the walls yes so this is this is an important cardboard model for us because it is already more or less to the final shape you know this is basically where we are right now this type of concert hall is known as a vineyard style as the layout of seats looks similar to the terraces of a sloping vineyard it's complex arrangement of balconies and walls is essential to create a good acoustic one of the keys to good sound is what acoustic engineers call early reflections when a musician plays a note the sound travels directly to each member of the audience but a good concert hall must also reflect the sound from a nearby surface so that the listener receives it between 10 and 80 milliseconds after the direct sound early reflections enrich the music for the listener in the world's greatest concert hall every seat in the house must receive these early reflections so you can see here the straight lines and they are very important for the early reflections within the space and you actually even need to introduce an in-between wall here because that distance of the back wall here would be too far away from the actual orchestra [Music] they have tested the shape with computer simulations to show the acoustic works in theory but there is only one way to really check it build it in a 1/10 scale model [Music] this model took six months to build every detail is accurate even the tiny felt hats on the 2100 model people absorb sound in a similar way to hair one of the most important our purpose of this and one tascam model and with actual sum is to detect detrimental echo to find any unwanted echoes that could ruin a concert Toyota and his team play sounds through a 12 sided loudspeaker on the stage tiny microphones placed in the audience pick up the sound and feed it to the recording devices weeks of testing reveal a problem the concert hole has an unwanted echo it shows up clearly on the audio waveform this is showing their call and then this is coming from the ceiling a delayed echo was heard separately from the direct sound we have to find out the the path for each echo in order to fix the problem by changing the angle by changing the material a small change to the model ceiling fixes the problem finally we eliminate that detrimental echoes here mr. Toyota has done all he can to create a perfect acoustic in this in the round design but he won't find out if he succeeded until opening night and that's starting to look like it might be a very very long wait as summer turns to autumn progress slows of the Elbphilharmonie construction site work is underway on the glass facade [Music] high above the river elbe the construction workers must install 1098 individually designed glass panels each costing on average around 20,000 euros but fitting them is proving a bit of a nightmare today we have to mount six elements we have to mount it in the 26th floor so today it's a little bit tricky because we have it's raining it's very windy this balcony unit weighs over a ton each large service area means the wind could easily blow it out of control [Music] if the wind reaches 40 kilometres an hour installing the glass becomes too dangerous and work must stop [Music] despite the wind today the team is on target we fixed six elements per day but we have fixed now four elements today it's a situation now it's good in the same way the architects are striving to give their concert hall the perfect acoustic they also seek perfection for the building's facade each panel is printed with a pattern of opaque dots for decoration and for temperature control this is the residential part of the building where you can see these kind of cutouts in the glass they're like these kind of lodges where you can step outside exterior spaces behind so the residents themselves can actually get an understanding of the environment and sense of smell sound and so on each unit has its own unique design that contributes to the overall look that the architects wanted to achieve it speaks about liquid about reflections and so the building skin now is becoming so much more interesting you know it's like a water surface but a water surface has a texture we suddenly create this very alive skin but the vast glass walls gave the architects an unusual problem [Music] normal glass could reflect ships radar signals creating the impression of ghost ships in the harbor the main problem of building such a large and dominant class elements or glass building in the harbor area especially which ships are coming in and out all the time is the fact that you have to avoid in your saturday radar reflections from glass facade it could lead a ship's crew to think their vessel was on a collision course with another ship the solution was to make the glass visible to radar with reflective chrome micro dots embedded in the patterning the special and chrome mirror dots on the glass had been placed in a way that radars from from the from the big ships that actually enter the port of Hamburg won't have a kind of doubling effect of their signals every stage of construction is closely monitored by the architects and their next big challenge is the top of the building the design calls for the vast 7,000 square metre roof to be covered in wave-like peaks and valleys that reflect its maritime load patient but a constructed around a thousand steel girders must be curved into precise shape above these bespoke girders will be an outer skin of 5800 aluminium discs each one carefully placed by hand [Music] even for seagulls the eldfell emoni will look stunning if it ever gets completed because the project is now expected to be at least three years late the costs continue to spiral and the people of Hamburg are beginning to question whether the city needs to spend so much money even the musicians are concerned if it was spent with private money then I would say wonderful they can do whatever they like however the costs are now approaching four hundred million euros it's a great thing to have a such a musical landmark and but on the other side it's taking a lot of money from all the other cultural activities in the city and this has to be watched in November 2011 the crisis over rising costs comes to a head in a dispute over reinforcing the roof the construction company stops work the project has become vastly more complicated and expensive than the job they agreed to five years earlier tender was far too early and you can imagine if the tender documents are not precise enough then of course a contractor on the other side cannot make a fair price or a precise price the grand scheme that has swallowed hundreds of millions of euros of public money lies all but abandoned the headlines revel in the misery of it all and month after month passes as lawyers argue over who is to blame well frankly it's a big mess this is unacceptable it's become a very political issue and it's something that the politicians are fighting about with the costs more than quadrupling might the world's greatest concert hall never be finished well there's no turning back I mean what do you do with a with a building like that now for over a year there is almost no work at the construction site until finally the dispute is resolved but at an additional cost of more than two hundred and fifty million euros for the city of Hamburg the total cost of the city is now a whopping seven hundred and eighty nine million euros almost eight hundred and fifty million u.s. dollars new contracts have been made which now make it possible to realise this building and which hopefully will lead to a result that people will say well it was worth it in April 2013 construction of the Elbphilharmonie restarts the glass facade and the roof can be finished and the focus turns to the interior inside the large concert hall the final part of the acoustic design is coming together over 10,000 specially designed acoustic tiles will line the walls and balconies of the auditorium the design is abstract and modern but these tiles oh their shape to a concept that dates back centuries research reveals that it's not just the shoebox shape that gives classical concert halls their superb sound the decorations along the walls are just as important [Music] when sound waves hit the plaster decorations they scatter in different directions this creates multiple reflections giving a more even natural sound for the Elbphilharmonie Hertzog and demure on have created their own modern equivalent that they call the white skin they're specially developed fiber reinforced gypsum tiles can be individually micro shaped to create acoustic reflections to mr. Toyotas exact specifications by scattering sound and we can get a very even distribution over the audience area under mr. Toyota's guidance the architects developed the pattern on the white skin tile by tile every time is different it's a that was part of the whole micro shaping idea so we started analyzing each war with him understanding more depth here meant more dispersion less depth meant more direct reflection and by doing that we kind of optimized acoustically every wall for his needs it's taken over 350 million lines of computer programming to produce this vast three-dimensional jigsaw every one of the ten thousand two hundred and eighty-seven tiles is different but their patterns must all line up it's basically like going back to childhood over the huge Meccano said everything is numbered labeled there's a sequence as to how things are done for Nick Lyons this is a tense time if the tiles don't fit together perfectly it will be a major setback they started about six months ago and they've been mounting in a kind of a spiral form working the way up to the tip I'm really surprised at the precision I have to say it just fitted I mean everything fed it of course there was a little bit of Shaving here and there but in general it was with a set piece fantastic and at last it seems the rounds over money are behind them progress has been fast and unimpressive and it's especially after such a long way wonderful to see the progress of the construction yeah it's going well [Music] the building is starting to look good but no one really knows if the extraordinary acoustic design will work until the first concert takes place six years behind schedule the end is finally in sight in every part of the building painters electricians and fitters are hard at work they're putting the finishing touches in preparation for the grand opening to the public at the moment it's I mean we're to two months before official handover to the city so it's it's very much about final paint work jobs fine-tuning of technical systems maybe laying down the art bit of wooden flooring the hotel is complete and it's 244 rooms are ready to receive guests at the top-end a night here will cost you over three thousand US dollars on the other side of the building the prices of the luxury penthouse apartments are a secret that is only revealed to people who can show they have enough money to buy one the most expensive is said to cost 37 thousand dollars per square meter also finished is the main public space at the moment we're standing on the plaza which is the rooftop of the whole storage building it's a public level everyone can come here and without having to go to concerts so everyone can experience the views after years of delays the final work is progressing remarkably smoothly but before they can reveal the concert hall to the public the acoustic designer must give his approval mr. Toyota has flown in from Los Angeles it's a really beautiful marcozzi the reflector designed to bounce sound backs of the orchestra can hear themselves playing wins his approval and the concert hall it's just amazing [Applause] now mr. Toyota is ready to put the concert halls design to its first big test it must render a passing ships foghorns completely inaudible this is a opening directly to an outside and the one of those and the weak point are in the acoustic structure will the double wall of the hall do its job or will mr. Toyota have to commit hari-kari [Music] actually the other ship is coming along moody very close and through the building [Music] I don't hear the inside but yeah what is the situation outside okay okay fine inside the hole the ships horn is inaudible yeah and the result ah it's very successful I think it has passed its first test its soundproof but the critical test of its acoustics with a full orchestra is yet to come [Music] two months before the first concert the city opens the plaza level to the public after a six-year delay the people of Hamburg finally get to see what they have paid for the architects have flown in from Switzerland for the press launch today this is the first handover to the public the handover of the public plaza and that will be accessible for everyone so it's a place for everyone to reach the public plaza from the entrance visitors travel up the 82 metre long escalator [Music] over 8,000 giant sequins line the walls it's europe's longest curved escalator as visitors ascend its convex shape slowly reveals their destination [Music] whereas it was always very important to to to be really firm you know on special things you know because the quality was in the foreground so this was really almost for us no compromise [Music] the architects have stamped their mark on every aspect of the building vast arches are now like to pour into the center of the plaza floor a rippling curtain of glass rising from the brick floor keeps out the wind from the plaza level curving staircases lead up to the main concert hall the balcony running right round the building keeps the people of Hamburg a 360 degree view of their city despite the cost the locals seem proud of their new building I think it is a very impressive building it did take quite a while to complete and it did cost a lot of money but I think it's elegant you might think it's a gateway to the world and a gateway into Hamburg it's great it's a big day for the architects in more ways than one today they are unveiling the concert hall to the press despite the hurdles along the way they have stuck to and realized their original vision I have to say that even if this was especially long architecture is always a marathon is not a sprint often we had difficult meetings really difficult meetings or bad news contraction news or other news not good news you know but when you went and to the constant side and you were back again in this project world and you were fascinated again and really and fired by it by this unique place and the work really kept us alive it has taken 16 years from initial sketch to finished building but the time has finally arrived for the architects to let go of their creation since like children how with them you take care you do the best to make it really a great child or a great piece of architecture and you have to let it go like children actually Hamburg finally has its new landmark it's almost two decades since Alexander Gerar first conceived the idea of putting a concert hall in an old warehouse what does he think of the final result the look is different from what we Envisat we wanted a more traditional glass facade but all other details are marvelous and really things very very good architecture the building as a whole is really quite exceptional unlike the architects mr. Toyota can't let go just yet this is just a start of the process of actual testing and the real actual missions the first moment is I would say the most difficult moment in the since everything is new so it means that yeah for instance and how to pray how to hear each other it is the process is taking time gradually gradually the situation will be you know improved and changed and by nation themselves will the whole satisfy its most demand huijin's the musicians who will work Yan Larson is the first viola player in the resident Orchestra what does he think it's like a crystal you can hear every detail it's very easy to listen to your colleagues it's kind of a very strict teacher to a group so you really have to be in every little detail you have to be perfect otherwise it's here about it's just right after checking the sound from around the hall mr. Toyota gives his personal verdict on the acoustic I have no idea you know the one of them based or one of five bass or you know but still it is unique and they should be and one of those and world class definitely but the most important judges will be the public attending the first concert at last it's the opening night of Hamburg shelled filum only concert hall and a city is laying on a spectacular show above the plaza level concert goers make their way up the grand staircase that leads to the concert hall every one of its 2,100 seats was booked months ago as the doors close the holes double walls ensure that not a sound reaches the public areas this is the moment of truth will Hamburg's discerning music lovers give the acoustic the thumbs-up [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it's really crisp and clear it was really an interesting experience to hear that and you can hear every single instrument it was really impressive yeah really nice overwhelmingly people appear to love the whole in its acoustic I think the the sound is beautiful you can hear single instruments and you've really become very aware of how sound is produced and it spreads the acoustics are very good very good and it's an acoustic which is probably best described as breathing you know if anyone knows if the sound is working its world-class conductor Kenton aghanim the concert hall is is an enormous success of course from acoustic point of view and I think every musician myself included and every public member is so deeply moved to have this acoustic here in Hamburg at a total cost of 866 million euros around nine hundred million dollars the Elbphilharmonie has been described as possibly the most expensive entertainment venue since the Romans built the Colosseum so was it worth it I think to see it right now it's probably it's worth it yes it's worth it yeah the money this is what it's like in Germany had anyone said at the start this will be over 500 million then nobody would have built it there would never have been an approval so you start small and later and when it's there it's such a terrific things you don't think about money too much it simply is worth it and it will be worth it for years for many many years whether it is decades whether it is centuries we don't know but it is worth every single cent yes and is it the greatest concert hall in the world this has the potential to be one of the great halls of the of the world and we'll just have to wait and see

Channel: Free Documentary

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Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), engineering, engineering documentary, constructions, construction documentary, megastructures, engineers at work, construction, concert hall, concert hall construction, building a concert hall, acoustic construction, tech documentary, technology documentary, top documentaries, Elbphilharmonie building, elbphilharmonie hamburg, Elbphilharmonie

Id: pRs_gx2bX0w

Length: 50min 5sec (3005 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 23 2020