Casa da Música is a major concert hall space that houses the cultural institution of the same name with three orchestras, located in the city of Porto, within the northern part of the Portuguese Republic. The three orchestras that are with the institution are: Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Orquestra Barroca, and Remix Ensemble.
The Casa da Música building was designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas with Office for Metropolitan Architecture and Arup-AFA, and its completion was in 2005. Wanting to escape the traditional domination of the architectural style for the concert halls, the architect wanted to make sure that Casa da Música would attempt to reinvigorate the traditional concert hall in another way. In other words, the architect intended to design a building that would be futuristic, while at the same time it would have the same function as the regular, old concert halls.
With the redefinition of the relationship between the hallowed interior and the general public outside, Casa da Música has a distinctive faceted form, made of white concrete, which remains solid and recognizable in an age of too many architectural icons. Within the building, there are 1,300 seats in the Grand Auditorium, which has a corrugated glass façade at either end and opens the hall to the city, offering Porto a dramatic backdrop for performances.
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As it was built across from one of the main traffic and business centres of the city, Praça Mouzinho de Albuquerque, known as Rotunda da Boavista, the design of the building has been recognized as an exceptional one worldwide. The large, the small auditorium, and the restaurant, which is atop the building, are alluring many visitors, and simply after the completion, it became the most important landmark of the city of Porto.
In conclusion, the Casa da Música building is a modern, quite futuristic building, which is something that Porto’s visitors never miss when they visit this historic Portuguese city. The straight lines with unexpected corners and the mesmerizing white concrete façade shall remain to be talked about for decades to come. Even if some Star Wars admirers would say that this is a building that came straight out of George Lucas’ world, Casa da Música shall remain as one of the structures that changed how some buildings can be built and will motivate future architects to be bold and design even bolder buildings.
