Great Amber, Liepaja, Latvia

Object Type

Client
Liepaja City Municipality, Liepaja

Architects
VOLKER GIENCKE Giencke & Company Architects ZT GmbH, Graz

Expertises
Building Acoustics
Room Acoustics

Besides the capital Riga, Liepaja is Latvia‘s third largest city with approx. 100,000 inhabitants. Its significance as a center of music reaches far beyond Latvia. The new “Great Amber“ concert hall with its spectacular design by Volker Giencke Architekten based in Graz, Austria, has a completely glazed shell and its appearance resembles a large piece of amber. The building houses a large concert hall as well as a chamber music hall. Both halls are home venues for the Liepaja Symphonic Orchestra, one of the oldest and best-known orchestras in the Baltics.

The large concert hall with a volume of approx. 11,800 m³ seats an audience of 1,120. In the fully occupied hall with a fully occupied orchestra podium, the reverberation time still amounts to 1.8 to 2.0 seconds and even increases towards the lowfrequency range so that the acoustic conditions are ideal for classical music concerts. With its tiers of balconies, the shape of the hall follows traditional vineyard terrace layouts. Thus, the audience experiences a close physical proximity to the artists on the podium as well as a fully enveloping sound. Thanks to its high flexibility and the large, even floor in the stalls area, the concert hall can be adjusted to the requirements of events of various musical genres, to drama as well as dance performances, to meetings, conventions, receptions and banquets. In the chamber music hall with its volume of approx. 1,200 m³, an audience of up to 180 can enjoy a balanced and refined sound during chamber music events.

Image Copyright
1 Indriķis Stūrmanis
2 Indriķis Stūrmanis
3 Indriķis Stūrmanis
4 Indriķis Stūrmanis