Perth Concert Hall, Building Design Partnership, Scotland, Horsecross Photos, Location

Perth Concert Hall : Venue

Horsecross: Scottish Concert Venue design by BDP Architects, UK

Address: Mill Street, Perth, PH1 5HZ

Phone: tickets + info 01738 621 031 ; admin 01738 472 700

Building Photos: Keith Hunter

RIAS Andrew Doolan Award for Architecture 2006 shortlist

Perth Concert Hall Building

The only new-build full scale concert hall built in Scotland since 1990.

The 1200 seat Perth Concert Hall is now complete

Perth Concert Hall interior image

It is the result of the Perth 2000 international architectural competition, the jury of which was chaired by Eva Jiricna, and won by BDP Glasgow in 1998.

The main auditorium was designed principally as a concert hall for orchestral music, but it is fully flexible to accommodate a wide range of events. A unique floor lift configuration allows the raked seating to be stowed and the floor level raised to provide a full flat floor.

The strong and memorable architectural form, combined with the provision of a new international standard venue for the performing arts, are set to make Perth Concert Hall one of the most significant Scottish public buildings of recent years. Following a short design presentation by BDP, there will be a tour of the Perth Concert Hall building and recorded music played in the main auditorium.

Perth Concert Hall – information from GIA

Perth Concert Hall atrium image

Scottish Design Awards 2006 – Best Building for Public Use : nominee

Perth Concert Hall Building – Sep 2005 Update

GALA OPENING FOR PERTH’S NEW CONCERT HALL

Perth Concert Hall is host to a Gala Concert, given by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, on 16 Sep 2005

The event marks the public opening of the first full-scale purpose-built concert hall in Scotland since 1990. The £17m Perth Concert Hall building is the result of an international architectural competition, chaired by Eva Jiricna, and won by BDP’s Glasgow office in 1998.

Located in the historic Horsecross part of Perth, once a thriving market area but more recently marginalised, Perth Concert Hall is viewed in the round and BDP’s free form plan is a unifying response to the irregular edges of the urban fabric bounding the site. The Horsecross area has already witnessed significant urban regeneration, as a result of the impending opening of this new facility, which includes a streetscaping project by the local authority following completion of the Concert Hall.

Bruce Kennedy, BDP Project Architect for the Perth Concert Hall said “The distinctive form of the main auditorium is strongly expressed, both externally and within the foyer, to celebrate the building’s function and create a contemporary architectural icon for Perth. The curved plan form of the hall minimizes the scale of what is a large civic building, allowing it to integrate successfully into the sensitive historic townscape.”

At the heart of the Perth Concert Hall building BDP has designed a fully flexible 1,200 seat concert hall, the Gannochy Auditorium, which features uniquely configured floor lifts and movable seating wagons to provide both raked seating and a large-scale flat floor. The flexible format of the concert hall can also accommodate events such as conference, sports, fashion shows, dinner dances and even a motor show.

BDP Acoustics modelled the main auditorium’s natural acoustic for orchestral music, with flexibility for a range of acoustic environments provided by retractable acoustic banners and powerful electro-acoustic systems. Commissioning results confirm that the auditorium will be an excellent venue for music events or speech.

Perth Concert Hall exterior image; photo on right from artist Shaeron Averbuch

In addition to the Gannochy Auditorium, BDP’s design for the Perth Concert Hall provides a smaller, day-lit 150 seat multi-purpose hall, the Norrie Miller Studio, which has been acoustically modelled and is able to be fully blacked-out and can be sub-divided by means of a movable partition to form two smaller rooms.

A large-scale glazed open foyer, with café, bar and box office, forms a new civic space in Perth conceived as an extension of the new external public square which surrounds it. Green patinated copper was selected by BDP to clad auditorium, partly as a reference to the copper dome of the adjacent Perth Museum, but principally as a foil to the zinc, white precast concrete, white render and silver curtain walling of the envelope.

The client for the Perth Concert Hall was Perth and Kinross Leisure, and the venue is now managed by Horsecross. The project started on site in 2003 and completed in Summer 2005 at a construction cost of £12.5m.

BDP was Architect, Interior Designer and Acoustic Consultant.
Other members of the team were: C&S, M&E Consultant and Fire Engineer – Buro Happold; Theatre Consultant – Carr and Angier; QS – Gardiner and Theobald; Project Manager – GTMS; Design and Build Contractor; Sir Robert McAlpine.

Perth Concert Hall – Building Information from BDP Scotland 080905

Perth 2000 international architectural competition : chaired by Eva Jiricna Architect

Perth Concert Hall images © Keith Hunter

Dynamic Place – Built Environment Commended 2005

Perth Concert Hall Architects : BDP