Barenboim-Said Akademie, Berlin, Germany

Object Type
Concert Halls

Client
Barenboim-Said Akademie gGmbH, Berlin

Architects
Gehry Partners, LLP, Los Angeles (Entwurf Konzertsaal) Werkgemeinschaft Barenboim-Said Akademie, Berlin (Entwurf) rw+ Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH, Berlin (Realisierung)

Completion
2017

Expertises
Thermal Insulation & Energy Performance Calculation
Building Acoustics
Sound Isolation
Room Acoustics

Founded by Daniel Barenboim in 2012, the Academy of Music has found a permanent home in Berlin in the former "scenery warehouse" of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Following extensive refurbishment, the academy now has 21 rehearsal rooms, seminar rooms, a lecture hall and offices. The showpiece of the building is a new chamber music hall for up to 680 people in the east wing of the listed building, which serves as a venue for the students as well as a public concert hall.

As part of the refurbishment, Müller-BBM Building Solutions was commissioned with the structural and room acoustics planning of the academy, the structural acoustics planning of the concert hall and the planning of the energy-efficient refurbishment of the thermal building envelope in line with listed building requirements.

It was a particular challenge to protect the sensitive concert hall from the traffic noise of the busy Französische Strasse, especially as the design by Frank O. Gehry envisaged large windows in the concert hall (which also had to be preserved for reasons of monument protection). Thanks to the successful implementation of highly sound-insulating box-type window constructions, it is now possible to observe the bustling Berlin street life in the hall in complete silence.

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