Bridgewater Hall – Manchester, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 28.532 W 002° 14.768
30U E 550033 N 5925436
This concert hall opened in 1996 and was built as part of an urban regeneration program in what was a rundown part of Manchester. To minimise vibration it stands on 280 giant springs.
Waymark Code: WME9BV
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/22/2012
Views: 4
The Bridgewater Hall is home to the Halle Orchestra, a symphony orchestra originally formed in 1857. From 1858 the orchestra had been based in the Free Trade Hall, a building that was not originally built as a concert hall. Despite being rebuilt after the second world war because of bomb damage, the building did not have a good reputation for the quality of its acoustics.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s there were various proposals to build a new hall, but nothing happened until the formation of the Central Manchester Development Corporation. Eventually the site of an old bus station and car park was chosen and Renton Howard Wood Levin (RHWL) architects chosen to design the building.
The site had a few challenges for a concert hall as it is next to busy roads and a tram route. Consideration had to be given to eliminating traffic noise but also vibration from the trams.
The main auditorium sits on a foundation of earthquake-proof isolation bearings that insulate it from noise and vibration from the adjacent road and tram line. The hall rests on 280 isolation bearings consisting of rows of steel springs between concrete piers. Bridgewater Hall is the first concert hall built with this technology.
The Bridgewater Hall has four tiers of seats and can seat 2341 people.
Since its opening on 11 September 1996, it has been the home of the Hallé Orchestra, the Hallé Choir and the Manchester Boys Choir, and is a regular venue for concerts by the BBC Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata. From September 2002 it has been home to the Hallé Youth Orchestra and Youth Choir, founded for musicians under the age of nineteen who are not in full-time musical education.
Inside the hall, the focal point is a £1.2 million[1] pipe organ (with 5500 pipes) built by Marcussen & Son, which dominates the auditorium, covering the rear wall with wood and burnished metal. At the time of construction, the organ was the largest instrument to be installed in the UK for a century
The Hall is also used for other musical including classical music, rock, pop, jazz, world music and much more.
The design also gave consideration to the outside space. In order to provide a waterfront setting, a canal basin was opened from the nearby Rochdale canal and a public square placed outside the entrance to the hall.
As well as an abstract sculpture in the square there is a bust of Sir John Barbirolli, a world famous conductor who conducted the Halle Orchestra from 1943 until 1970, the year of his death.
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