The Concert Hall is a landmark project for the city of Belgrade in Serbia. It is the biggest cultural investment in the region for decades. Located next to the historic Palace of Serbia in New Belgrade, the project is an extraordinary commitment to building a brighter, more sustainable future for the city. With multiple performance, rehearsal and creative spaces including a symphonic concert with 1,600 seats, the hall will be the first of its kind in the Balkans: an internationally recognised platform for world class musical performance contributing to the social, economic and environmental development of Serbia.
In 2021 the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched an international design competition on behalf of the Government of Serbia in partnership with the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Culture and Information, City of Belgrade, and the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, targeting the world’s most renowned architectural firms. 37 applications were received from 15 countries, with eight candidates invited to proceed to the next stage.
The landscape of the River Danube and the parkland setting was the winning proposal’s starting point. AL_A uses water to reflect the building and surrounding nature to evoke the marshland that originally allowed the Serbian people to flourish. The project will rewild the park to make it the setting for the new Concert Hall.
The concert hall comprises four main venues: a large performance hall, recital hall, creative hub and podium stage. Each has a different character in order to celebrate different musical genres and attract different audiences. The four venues encircle a social space that forms the heart of the Belgrade Concert Hall, with shared back of house facilities positioned below the newly created town square. Through this structural arrangement, the building will have no front and back, resulting in an architectural panorama.