SINFONIA VARSOVIA CONCERT HALL WARSAW
ROOTS
The relocation of the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra to the site of the former Veterinarian Institute in
Praga Poludnie provides a unique chance to create a strong and powerful cultural center with local,
regional and international significance. The site will become a center for music where everyone will
be able to become acquainted with and enjoy classical music and other art forms. It will be a true
democratic center for music and the arts.
The Concept:
The new Concert Hall will form a visible icon for music and arts within the Praga Podulnie
district as well as for the entire city of Warsaw. The widespread roof of the new Concert Hall
building vaguely resembles an abstracted tree beneath whose branches music and arts are
celebrated and developed. The tree symbolizes the new center with its roots in the past and its
branches that point and project new possibilities into the future. This dramatic roof overhang
will be clearly visible from Grochowska Street, thus marking the center as an important
landmark in the district and the city.
The new Center has been designed as a fully democratic facility. The goal of the design is to
make classical music and the arts accessible to everyone regardless of income or education
levels. To this end, the facility has been conceived as open and accessible as possible featuring
multiple entrance points around the property and a 360 degree glazed lobby surrounding the
concert hall.
All access points to the concert hall are at ground level and all visitors enter the hall at lobby
level. Once inside they find themselves at mid level of the 1800 seat vineyard shaped auditorium
with equal distances to front and back seats. This arrangement is designed to convey the
impression of equality to the audience and to prevent elitist attitude among visitors.
The relationship between “Front of House” and “Back of House” of the concert hall and the large
orchestra rehearsal room is turned “vertical” instead of “horizontal” as in most traditional concert
facilities: visitors and performers are entering the concert hall and the large orchestra rehearsal
room at different floor levels. The ground floor of the building is completely open to the
outside and fully dedicated to the public while the levels beneath the ground floor comprise
stage access, dressing rooms, storage and loading facilities. This way, the public gets to enjoy
the entire floor around the concert hall while performers and staff operate on two entire
unimpeded floor plates laid out in a rational and efficient fashion.
The roof of the new concert hall building frames the existing buildings and forms a wonderful
backdrop for the vegetation on site and the adjacent park. It becomes a powerful icon visible
from all sides, the adjacent streets and the park. With the roof’s transparent skin, the visitors are
constantly connected to the surrounding buildings and vegetation. Its cantilever breaks the
axial arrangement at roof level, creates an inviting movement towards the public park in the
East and provides a powerful entrance canopy for the concert hall lobby.
