Gasteig HP8 Isarphilharmonie

Situated in Sendling, a multicultural borough of Munich in Germany, the Isarphilharmonie is the new temporary replacement concert hall and home for the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra though its original base, the Gasteig complex, is undergoing renovation. The Isarphilharmonie is destined to become the focus of Europe’s largest cultural centre – Gasteig HP8 – named after the location Hans-Preißinger-Straße 8 - a new, vibrant cultural quarter.

Harmonious construction

Opened in October 2021, the Isarphilharmonie is created to both delight and engage the visual senses of visitors with its von Gerkan, Marg and Partners architects-designed construction presenting a subtle but harmonious dark grey coloured clad building with a nod to the industrial style. Internally, dark glazed, solid cross-laminated timber panels with attached spruce wood slats surround the hall with the ceiling made also of the same material and the floor a light parquet.

Together the material choices contribute to the concert hall’s outstanding acoustics created by Nagata Acoustics, headed by Yasuhisa Toyota, which can boast projects such as the Philharmonie de Paris and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in its portfolio.

The 30 cm thick cross-laminated timber elements of the hall walls were also slightly scaled so that the sound reflections are better distributed throughout the room.

Requiring to be built quickly, just 18 months, and to a fixed budget of 40 million euros, a prefabricated stone wool insulated wall system) was the material of choice – its fully prefabricated façade solution enabling quick, efficient, and precise installation, with reduced costs and minimal quality risk. Mindful of the building’s longterm use, the chosen metal wall system, up to 99% recyclable, and consisting of up to 56% of recycled materials, also ensures its sustainable future.

The prefabricated metal wall systems also contributed to the outstanding acoustics (Airborne sound insulation: Rw(C:Ctr) 30 (-1;-3) (dB)) of the concert hall, stone wool core performances added insulation for unwanted noise at the same time its absorbing properties improved the internal sound field quality by absorbing echo and reverberation within the room and contributing to good room acoustics.