Royal Festival Hall

The Royal Festival Hall ( German: Royal Festival Hall ) in London is a place for concerts, dance performances and lectures, which is located in the South Bank Centre. It is located in the South Bank area on the south bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. The building enjoys a so-called "Listed Building" ( " Listed Building " ) of stage I (Grade I) special grandfathering and was the first post-war building in England, which was classified in this category ( in April 1988).

The foundation stone was laid in 1949 on the site of a former brewery, the then Prime Minister Clement Attlee. This was the contribution of the London County Council for the Festival of Britain ( 1951 opened a National Exhibition, the Festival Hall was the only evidence built on a permanent building), and the official opening took place on 3 May 1951. The construction is also a replacement for the destroyed in World War II the Queen's Hall was to be created.

The design of the Festival Hall follows the modernism after the architect Hugh Casson commissioned by the festival had decided to use only young architects. For the designs recorded Leslie Martin, Peter Moro and Robert Matthew from the LCC 's Architects' Department responsible; Martin was only 39 years old, when he was commissioned in late 1948 with the leadership of the design team. Martin designed the basic structure as " egg in the box " ( "egg in a box" ); He used this term to the separation of the curved auditorium from the surrounding building structure - to describe - and thus also of noise and vibration through the adjacent railway bridge.

The building underwent in 1964 a significant change in substance, as foyers and terraces have been added to the river side of the building and also the number of rear locker rooms was increased. Thus, the original style style similar to a Scandinavian - footed modernism facades were given a clearer and more edgier look. The original sequence of inputs was significantly affected by these interventions, as well as by the later addition of elevated paved access. 1967/68 the neighboring building Queen Elizabeth Hall ( Queen Elizabeth Hall ), Purcell Room were added ( Purcell Room) and The Hayward, which are also part of the South Bank Centre.

Since the late 1980s, the Festival Hall pursued an "open foyers " principle, with substantial foyer spaces were opened during the day to the public, even if there be no performances. This met with widespread resonance, and the Festival Hall foyers are now one of the most used public spaces in London.

Under the direction of Allies and Morrison Architects a thorough renovation was carried out in order to improve the poor acoustics, to increase the efficiency of access and the flexibility of the auditorium as well as to increase the overall quality of the building material, the input zones and the foyer facilities in recent years. A series of seven commercial or catering facilities have been added to the river side and designed the adjacent walkway by the river again, which, however, London's preferred public skateboard area has disappeared below the Hall. The total cost of the renovation is estimated at approximately £ 115 million. In June 2008, the renovation of the South Bank Centre was completed.

By 2013, the restoration of the 1954 built in the Royal Festival Hall organ is to be completed with 7710 pipes, which was removed during the renovation work. The restoration is carried out by the company Harrison & Harrison, who had originally built the organ.

After the Greater London Council ( the successor to the London County Council ) was abolished in 1986, the Arts Council took over the Festival Hall. It is now run by the South Bank Centre.

The Royal Festival Hall is the headquarters of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. It has 2,900 seats, the neighboring Queen Elizabeth Hall on 917 and the Purcell Room over 370 seats. The closest underground station is Waterloo.