Officially inaugurated on 11 January 2017, the Elphie (abbreviation of the German word Elb Philharmonie) is one of the largest and acoustically most advanced concert halls in the world. It is an architectural, cultural and civic masterpiece and dominates Hamburg’s harbor. Set on a small finger of land that protrudes into the River Elbe, this cultural and residential complex incorporates three superb concert venues. A 280-foot curved escalator transports visitors up six flights to a public observation deck with sweeping views of the city of Hamburg and its harbor. The ride takes two and a half minutes. While a parking garage occupies some of the lower levels, the upper floors accommodate 44 luxury condominiums, a conference center, restaurants, bars and a spa. In addition, the four-star Westin Hotel Hamburg with 250 rooms is located between the 9th and 20th floors.
Elphie (Elb Philharmonie) in Hamburg, Germany. Photo © Klaus Malonnek, 2018. www.walled-in-berlin.com
The smallest of the condominiums has 1,300 square feet; the largest 4,300 square feet. Sales prices begin at $1,580 per square foot. A stay at the Westin Hotel will run about $220.00 per night for its least desirable room to $3,000 per night for its top suite.
History of the Elphie
The Elphie crests the skeleton of a 1963 warehouse that replaced an earlier one built in the same spot in 1875. The new structure is topped with a 1000-panel undulating glass roof. Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron retained the original 1966 brick façade of the base building. They then designed a footprint-matching glassy superstructure with its own foundation on top of this base. The first eight floors of the building are within the brick façade, the remaining 18 floors extend above it. The curved glass windows give the Elphie the appearance of a hoisted sail.
Elphie concert halls
The Elphie has three concert venues.The Great Concert Hall accommodates 2,100 visitors. The audience surrounds the performers in a vineyard-style seating arrangement. Even the back seats are no more than 100 feet from the conductor. Acoustician, Yasuhisa Toyota, designed the Elphie’s acoustics. He installed about 10,000 acoustic panels that disperse the sound into every corner of the hall. The Great Concert Hall also is home to a pipe organ with 69 registers and 4,765 organ pipes, built by the German company, Klais Orgelbau.
Great Concert Hall, Elphie, Hamburg, Germany. Photo © Klaus Malonnek, 2018. www.walled-in-berlin.com
The smaller Recital Hall holds 550 patrons and is used for the performance of recitals, chamber music and jazz concerts. The third venue, the Kaistudio, seats 170 visitors and is mainly used for educational events.
The Elphie’s Construction Woes
The foundation for the Elphie was laid in April 2007 with a projected completion date in 2010. Cost was estimated at €241 million. Like many other major projects worldwide, completion of the complex ran over schedule. Construction work finally ended in October 2016 at a cost of €789 million. Although the project was severely criticized for its cost and schedule overruns, it was successfully completed unlike Berlin’s new airport. The opening of BER has been delayed eight times already, with no end in sight.
Elphie’s Successes
Two years into the Elphie’s existence, the complex is still extremely popular with locals and visitors alike. Since its opening in 2017, each of the almost 800 concerts in the Great Concert Hall was almost always fully booked. The smaller Recital Hall was sold out over 90% of the time, and it still is difficult to obtain a ticket to a performance at the Elphi.
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
