Dietrich | Untertrifaller Architekten

Prominently located in Innsbruck’s cultural center, this project was conceived for open cultural exchange across all ages and genres. The unifying element is music. The building’s simple volume belies extreme programmatic complexity as it houses multiple musical institutions, concert halls, expansive support, administration, dining, a national music library, and outdoor terraces with views of Innsbruck and the Alps. State theater director Johannes Reitmeier declared it a “unique project that has no equal.”

Contextually immersed, the building’s transparent base and open spaces allow the outdoors to visually flow inside while interior functions pour out to the street to engage audiences beyond those attending performances. The large concert hall, with its great glass façade, becomes a plein air stage and the entry plaza, an auditorium. Transparency is dramatized against the building’s glazed ceramic cladding, which shimmers with iridescent blacks and browns as light conditions change day and night.

The interior is clearly organized around a skylit lobby: the center of circulation and orientation where monumental stairs and spacious landings invite social interaction. Ceramic panels line the outer walls of the concert halls but for acoustical reasons and ambiance, the large interior is wood; the small is a sensuous black velvety material. For sound and vibration isolation, each uses hermetic box-in-box construction.

Strengthening Innsbruck’s long musical heritage, this state-of-the-art building links past and future as it integrates daily life with popular and high culture.