Architecture and music meet in the Queen Silvia Concert Hall in Stockholm designed by architect Giorgio Palù. The project stems from the request of Mark Tatlow, director of the Lilla Akademien, the city’s historic Conservatory, to conceive the new Concert Hall in an innovative way, giving it the function of a true educational centre capable of bringing the public closer to art. The result is a fluid and original space: the hall was created as an experimental environment, capable of hosting performances of various musical genres, on some occasions even subverting the canonical order with the audience on the stage and the orchestra on the balconies. Even the foyer is not, as usual, on the ground floor, but instead spectators are led by a large lift to the third floor of the
building, where a panoramic view of the entire hall opens up, beginning the musical experience with an unexpected promenade architecturale, from the suspended balconies down to the audience at the bottom.
The space is conceived as a single organism, traversed by a harmony of shapes and colours, and a continuous interweaving of walkways and volumes. Steel Group was entrusted with the bespoke metal cladding of the Hall, representing a view of the Stockholm archipelago observed from a satellite, with the islands in polished steel mirrored to create a play of reflections and fragmented images that emphasise the idea of asymmetrical space and harmony of colours in the shades of the orchestra brass. In addition to the upholstery, Steel Group was also responsible for the creation of the customised velvet armchairs in the stalls thanks to Metalli d’Autore, its brand of Made in Italy metal furnishing and design objects, characterised by an exclusive style suitable for meeting all living space/lifestyle requirements with originality and elegance.
Ph. Roland Halbe
