Casa da Música, Porto

Abstract

'Casa da Música', Porto new concert hall building, has an unusual exterior form with a complex arrangement of interior spaces. The principal internal spaces are the main auditorium for 1300 spectators and a small auditorium for 300 spectators. The main structure of the building is of white reinforced concrete, which is to a large extent exposed. Construction steel is only locally used. The exterior of the building is composed by large reinforced concrete wall panels 40 cm thick and inclined at different angles. These panels, joined monolithically, form an external shell which is the fundamental element of the buildings primary structure. The primary structure also includes two large longitudinal walls limiting the main auditorium and the floor slabs, which, acting as membranes, work as stiffening vault ribs for the shell, absorbing and transferring the horizontal forces.