The Casals Forum – Architecture, Acoustics and Light in Harmony
Five years after the foundation stone was laid, the Casals Forum in Kronberg im Taunus was ceremoniously opened with a gala concert and festival featuring international classical music stars. With this ambitious large-scale project consisting of a concert hall, attached academy and administration center, the Kronberg Academy Foundation has not only established its own home, but also an innovative venue with optimal conditions for its musical education and public classical concerts. The building ensemble, with the sculptural and transparent pavilion structure of the Casals Forum, is a design by Staab Architekten from Berlin. Led by Volker Staab, the planners took advantage of the steep slope of the site to elegantly harmonize the new buildings with the scale of the surrounding buildings. The Chamber Music Hall, as the centerpiece, blends gently into the hillside – a horizontal window ribbon across the surrounding foyer allows the adjacent landscape to become part of the wood-lined hall and unfold its attractive charm. The lighting designers from Licht Kunst Licht have developed an integrated and ambient lighting concept for the impressive architecture, offering flexible lighting scenarios and diverse lighting atmospheres for a holistic musical experience. Thus, in close cooperation with renowned consultants from the field of architectural acoustics, an ambitious and powerful building has been created that ranks among the world’s best chamber music halls.
