“ timber technology enables us to think about what seems almost like sci-fi : can we prefabricate an entire concert hall for 1500 people as a lego-like kit of parts, in a factory?”

(Text by the architect) Timber is understood to be the construction material of the 21th century, replacing steel and concrete. Timber is a more sustainable material, while at the same time new technologies such as CLT(Cross Laminated Timber) make it also highly efficient and easy to automate. There has been extensive experimentation with timber construction in housing, with timber housing developments becoming more and more present. But can we also think about timber construction for more complex building types such as a concert hall? 

When the city of Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany,  announced a competition for the extension of the Meistersingerhalle,  the existing modernist concert hall , architects Gilles Retsin and Stephan Markus Albrecht teamed up with the engineers of Bollinger-Grohmann and acoustic specialists Theatre Projects, to design the world’s first fully timber concert hall. Not only the concert hall finishes itself - as is often the case -, but both the box in box structure of the concert hall, the load-bearing elements, floors, dividing walls and circulation throughout are constructed out of timber. Set in Bavaria,which is also known as Europe’s number one forest and timber region, the timber could be sourced and manufactured locally.