Vineyard style

The vineyard style is a term used for the design of a concert hall where the seating surrounds the stage, rising up in serried rows in the manner of the sloping terraces of a vineyard. It may be contrasted with the shoebox style, which has a rectangular auditorium and a stage at one end (as at the Musikverein). Other possibilities are the fan-shaped (as at the Barbican) and the arena (as at the Royal Albert Hall). The design might be considered a musical theatre in the round.

History
When faced with designing a new home for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra to replace Die alte Philharmonie, destroyed by bombing in 1944, architect Hans Scharoun observed that “people always gather in circles when listening to music informally”. His design won the ensuing competition, with Herbert von Karajan writing to the judges “of all the designs submitted, one seems to stand out above the others… founded on the principle that the performers should be in the middle… the deployment of the walls certainly makes good sense acoustically, but the most impressive of all is the complete concentration of the listener on the musical event”.

Following the example of the Philharmonie, the first example in the New World was the Sala Nezahualcoyotl of 1976 in Mexico City. The style is now found globally. For the Philharmonie de Paris, the vineyard concept is extended with balconies rather than banked terraces.

Acoustics
Echoes occur when there is an audible gap between the direct sound and its reflection. The walls surrounding the stage on which the seats are banked help provide the early reflections of sound from the side that are generally considered favourable. Installation of acoustic reflectors is another way of solving the problem.

Notable examples

Concert Hall Exterior Opened Location Architect Acoustics Capacity Auditorium
Berliner Philharmonie Philharmonie 1a.jpg 1963 Berlin, Germany Hans Scharoun Lothar Cremer 2440 Orchesterpodium der Berliner Philharmonie.jpg
Gewandhaus Neues Gewandhaus Leipzig 2011 Alupus.jpg 1981 Leipzig, Germany Rudolf Skoda Wolfgang Fasold 1900 Pankaj Mishra im Gewandhaus Leipzig.jpg
Suntory Hall 1986 Tokyo, Japan Yasui Architects Nagata Acoustics 2006 Suntory hall - inside - August 2014.jpg
Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara Sapporo02n4272.jpg 1997 Sapporo, Japan Hokkaido Engineering Consultant Company Nagata Acoustics 2008
Walt Disney Concert Hall Image-Disney Concert Hall by Carol Highsmith edit.jpg 2003 Los Angeles, USA Frank O. Gehry Nagata Acoustics 2265 WD concert hall stage.jpg
Koncerthuset Nouvel Koncerthus.JPG 2006 Copenhagen, Denmark Jean Nouvel Nagata Acoustics 1800 Main Auditorium, Copenhagen Concert Hall.jpg
Shenzhen Concert Hall Shenzhen's Concert Hall.jpg 2007 Shenzhen, China Arata Isozaki Nagata Acoustics 1680 Shenzhen Concert Hall - 1 2.jpg
Helsinki Music Centre Helsinki Music Center 9 September 2011 B.jpg 2011 Helsinki, Finland Architectural office Laiho-Pulkkinen-Raunio Nagata Acoustics 1704 20150110 Musiikkitalo hugovk.jpg
Philharmonie de Paris Philharmonie de Paris @ La Villette (28341515943).jpg 2015 Paris, France Jean Nouvel Marshall Day Acoustics and Nagata Acoustics 2400 Paris-Philharmonie1.jpg
Elbphilharmonie Elbphilharmonie August 2011.jpg 2017 Hamburg, Germany Herzog & de Meuron Nagata Acoustics 2150

Source From Wikipedia