House of Music
Introduction
The Casa da Música (House of Music) is a concert hall in Porto, Portugal, designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, which houses the institution of the same name and its three orchestras Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Orquestra Barroca and Remix Ensemble. Its construction was part of the Porto 2001-European Capital of Culture project, having begun in 1999 and completed at the beginning of 2005, 6 years after the planned date. It immediately became an icon of the city.
Construction
The Casa da Música was built right next to a main traffic center in the city, the Rotonda da Boavista. The place where the building sits was formerly a storage place for out-of-service trams. Its construction cost 100 million euros. The building process gave rise to new engineering challenges in relation to the construction of the curious shape it has. The builders of the building were Ove Arup, from London, together with Afassociados, from Porto.
Reviews
The design of the building has been highly acclaimed worldwide. Pepe Ouroussoff"), architecture critic for the New York Times, called it the "most attractive project architect Rem Koolhaas has ever built" and also said it was "a building whose intellectual fervor matches its sensual beauty." He also compares it to the "exuberant design" of Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. "Just looking at the building's original appearance, it is one of the most important concert halls built in the last 100 years." years", comparing it with the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles "Los Angeles (California")), and the Philharmonic auditorium in Pee").
Opening
Although the opening concert took place on April 14, 2005 with the artists Clã and Lou Reed, the building was inaugurated the next day, on April 15, by the Portuguese president, Jorge Sampaio. The Prime Minister was present, as well as many other notable politicians and people from the city.