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Performing Architecture: Opera Houses, Theatres and Concert Halls for the Twenty-first Century
In an age of fast-paced mass media and an enormous choice of home entertainment, it comes as a surprise to discover just how much creative energy and money is being directed towards new space for live performance at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Performing Architecture explores fifty of the world's finest twenty-first-century venues for live performance, as well as earlier buildings that have been recently refurbished or transformed, and shows that the buildings are as much the stars as those performing within them.
239 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2006
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May 21, 2011
Contemporary Art from Inside Out
PERFORMING ARCHITECTURE, a book compiled by Michael Hammond, an expert on architecture and urban design, brings a tour of some of the more interesting and accomplished works of architectural art conceived and built for the performing arts. The buildings he highlights have all the grandeur of cathedrals - structures of the elevation of the spirit and soul as well as edifices that stand alone as architectural wonders of design and function. Not only are there many photographs of both the exteriors and interiors of these buildings, but Hammond also includes the initial and subsequent drawings by the designers of these wonders, computer renderings and commentary about the concept and construction history of these landmark buildings.
Hammond profiles some 50-odd projects from the Shanghai Grand Theatre designed by Arte Jean-Marie Charpentier, to London's Music Box, designed by Foreign Office Architects and the Unicorn Theater for Children, the Tenerife Opera House in the Canary Islands and the Palau de les arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain, The Grand Canal Square Theater in Dublin, Ireland, the Danish Radio Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Lincoln Center in New York, The Guangzhou Opera House and the Beijing Opera House in China, the Oppenheim Miami Dade College Campus Center in Florida, the Oslo Opera House in Oslo, Norway, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in Troy, New York and of course, Frank Gehry's splendid Walt Disney Concert Hall for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, California.
The author carefully points out that the 'first' distinguished contemporary building for the arts was the 1973 Sydney Opera House, Australia, and icon image of the arts: since its construction architects and designers have become more alert o the need for the changes in acoustical engineering and the recognition that many of the old buildings for the performing arts were not only aging physically but also not compatible with the new concepts in how opera, dance, and theater could be enhanced by contemporary buildings design specifically for the arts. This is a grand book and one that will appeal to those who study architecture, those who are committed to the performing arts and long for the secret places of these great monuments to be more accessible, and to those fascinated by urban design in the 21st century. This is a monumental book about monuments to the arts!
Grady Harp
PERFORMING ARCHITECTURE, a book compiled by Michael Hammond, an expert on architecture and urban design, brings a tour of some of the more interesting and accomplished works of architectural art conceived and built for the performing arts. The buildings he highlights have all the grandeur of cathedrals - structures of the elevation of the spirit and soul as well as edifices that stand alone as architectural wonders of design and function. Not only are there many photographs of both the exteriors and interiors of these buildings, but Hammond also includes the initial and subsequent drawings by the designers of these wonders, computer renderings and commentary about the concept and construction history of these landmark buildings.
Hammond profiles some 50-odd projects from the Shanghai Grand Theatre designed by Arte Jean-Marie Charpentier, to London's Music Box, designed by Foreign Office Architects and the Unicorn Theater for Children, the Tenerife Opera House in the Canary Islands and the Palau de les arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain, The Grand Canal Square Theater in Dublin, Ireland, the Danish Radio Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Lincoln Center in New York, The Guangzhou Opera House and the Beijing Opera House in China, the Oppenheim Miami Dade College Campus Center in Florida, the Oslo Opera House in Oslo, Norway, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in Troy, New York and of course, Frank Gehry's splendid Walt Disney Concert Hall for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, California.
The author carefully points out that the 'first' distinguished contemporary building for the arts was the 1973 Sydney Opera House, Australia, and icon image of the arts: since its construction architects and designers have become more alert o the need for the changes in acoustical engineering and the recognition that many of the old buildings for the performing arts were not only aging physically but also not compatible with the new concepts in how opera, dance, and theater could be enhanced by contemporary buildings design specifically for the arts. This is a grand book and one that will appeal to those who study architecture, those who are committed to the performing arts and long for the secret places of these great monuments to be more accessible, and to those fascinated by urban design in the 21st century. This is a monumental book about monuments to the arts!
Grady Harp
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