“A new London concert hall, which its supporters believe would be as transformative for classical music as Tate Modern was for the visual arts, has been budgeted at £288m,” writes Mark Brown in Monday’s (1/21) Guardian (U.K.). “The cost and first designs for the ‘centre for music’ on the site of the Museum of London were unveiled on Monday. The concept includes a pedestrian plaza and foyer above which would sit an ‘acoustically perfect’ 2,000-seat concert hall for the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). Rising further would be four floors of commercial space, a destination restaurant and, at the top, a more intimate venue for jazz and other performances…. The £288m will all come from private donations…. There would also be breakout areas for musicians to perform within the audience…. [Architect Liz Diller] said it provided huge potential and would bring a southern entrance to the Barbican site which was ‘transparent, porous and welcoming.’ … The plans have been backed by the City of London Corporation, which has provided £2.49m for the next phase of work. The most crucial part of that is raising the money.”
Posted January 23, 2019
In photo: Concept design by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro for the entry plaza of the Centre for Music in London
