Walt Disney Concert Hall

Mai Nguyen Megan Schilling The case study that we chose to do was the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California. It is a magnificent piece of architecture that was designed by Frank Gehry. The project was started in 1987 at the wishes of Lillian Disney (widow of Walt Disney). In 2003 it was finally finished costing a total of 274 million dollars. It is now a frequented attraction of the LA area and is not just prized for its concert performances, but for its amazing design. The entire exterior of the building is 6600 stainless steel plates. Some of these plates are a buffed stainless steel, while on some areas of the building that rarely ever see sunlight there are mirrored stainless steel plates. This choice of material made the concert hall stand out from the surrounding buildings, and was actually a cost effective choice compared to using titanium or any other material. Another material that was seen in the outside garden, and also some areas inside the building were limestone walls. Continuing on to the inside of the building one would be instantly struck by the sight of the carpet. Architect Gehry personally designed the intensely colored carpet. Some people are opposed to the carpet choice, but since many of the walls in the concert hall were very large and white, the carpet created a pleasant contrast, and gives the hall a warm feel. The pattern used on the carpet is called Lillian, after Gehry specially deisgned it for her. The Lillian pattern was also used on the concert hall chairs, which was a sound absorbing fabric. Since the auditorium is such an open space sound travels easily. But, the choice of fabric helped with acoustics. Another choice of material used in the concert hall was Alicant Red Spanish Marble. This was used on a counter piece that ran along the length of the wall. The red of the marble tied in nicely with the red color found in the carpet. Throughout the entire concert hall, there were many places that were dedicated to honoring the names of the people that had helped donate funds to help complete the project. One particular wall that was interesting was a wall that appeared to look like a metal material, but in fact was an industrial felt. On the industrial felt, the names of the donors were in a stainless steel material. This particular choice of materials for the letters was extremely suitable because with the track lighting above, as you would walk past the wall the letters would catch the light and seem to “light up” but as you continued walking, the letters seemed to fade into the industrial felt and almost became indistinguishable. Another place the tour took us on was what is used as the “main entrance” during concert performances. In this area travertine floors were used from the doorways until the stairs up to the second floor. This was a good choice of material because the floors were non-slippery and would be good on a rainy night, or for an elderly person that was visiting the hall. Another material that was frequently used in the interior of the concert hall was different types of wood. In the main auditorium yellow cedar wood was the main choice. This is actually the same kind of wood found in such instruments like the cello and acoustically has a resonating sound effect. This way, no matter how far away your seat may be in the auditorium, the sound quality is not compromised. This makes the choice of material very appropriate, except sometimes its ability to spread sound is a little too good. The tour guide said concert attendees often feel as though they have to hold their breath during performances, for even the sound of breathing becomes incredibly amplified. Any audience members that are considered “too noisy” which could be as little as unwrapping a cough drop, may be asked to leave the performance! With such fantastic acoustics in the auditorium one can imagine how noisy a late guest might be!...Well, late guests are out of luck at the Disney Concert Hall. For the late guests, there is a nice little waiting area where they can watch the performance on a television. However, they do get to sit on special blue leather sofas. Yet another wood material used in the auditorium, and other walls throughout the hall is douglas fir. In the auditorium the Douglas Fir is used as the organ pipes. But, in other parts of the hall is used as wall panels. Some of the walls panels had little holes drilled into them and a mesh was inserted behind to help with acoustics. Finally, the other wood used in the concert hall was bleached red oak. Red oak flooring is used throughout the entire auditorium and also helps to amplify sound, so wearing high heels may not be recommended. Finally, towards the end of the tour we were brought back to the lobby where there was a material that stood out from all the rest. It was a front desk that was covered in an aquatic blue, transparent layered glass. It was a striking color against the mostly neutral colors used throughout the concert hall. The stacked glass had once protruded out at different angles, but due to people hurting themselves on it, they decided to sand it down to be at an even level. We also wanted to mention a striking material we found in the outer garden. It was a piece of art designed specifically again for Lillian Disney by Gehry and he titled it "A Rose for Lilly". The art was designed with broken pieces of various blue vases. Gehry chose this material because Lilly had always been a collector of cheap depth china dishes. So he decided to use this material in the design. The scuplted rose also has running water flowing through it. The concert hall was an informative space to do an interior design case study for. The materials selected were all purposeful and helped achieve the beauty and acoustical qualities that such an impressive concert hall would need. We hope you get to visit and enjoy it someday too.