Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, Reviving Downtown LA’s Cultural Scene

Walt Disney Concert Hall. Los Angeles, CA.

Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall (WDCH) was completed on October 23, 2003 to house the LA Philharmonic and with the intent to revive downtown LA’s cultural scene. Surprisingly, the original concept dates back to 1987 when Lilian Disney gifted $50 million to the people of LA as a tribute to her late husband, Walt Disney, and their devotion to the arts and the city of LA. Today, the building is often referred to as LA’s “living room” or its largest public room and is considered one of the greatest buildings of our time due to its distinctive sweeping metallic surfaces and its excellent acoustics. Gehry’s design was selected out of 80 architects’ submissions and construction began in 1991. Yet, the building wasn’t completed until 2003, mostly due to fundraising delays. Construction of the WDCH began before another renowned Gehry designed building, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, but was completed years later. This delay allowed WDCH planners to observe the success and acclaim of the Guggenheim, in part for its gleaming titanium cladding. The WDCH was originally designed with a stone exterior, a detail Gehry reluctantly changed to stainless steel at the planners’ request. Gehry described the Guggenheim as “a training ground for LA”- allowing them to know how to best build the WDCH. In an interview with Los Angeles Times journalist, Barbara Isenberg, Gehry stated, “Disney Hall would look beautiful in stone.” He continued, “It would have just been great. It would have been friendly. Metal at night goes dark. I begged them. No, after they saw Bilbao, they had to have metal.” Despite this, Gehry’s deconstructivist WDCH masterpiece is beloved for its swooping, undulating metal design that symbolizes musical movement and the motion of LA. The stainless steel tiles allow flexibility and engage light. During the day the façade’s individual panels and curves are accentuated and the city’s lights color the reflective surfaces at night. In some areas the stainless steel has a matte finish and in others a highly polished, mirror-like finish. After completion, areas were lightly sanded to eliminate glare, which was causing heat in the surrounding neighborhood and proving to be a traffic hazard.

As with all his buildings, the WDCH was designedfrom the inside out. While the exterior is abstract and futuristic, the interior is warm and expansive with wood finishes throughout. In the main concert hall, oak is used for the floors, Alaskan yellow cedar for the stage and Douglas fir on the walls. The concert hall seats 2,265 and is in a vineyard-style seating arrangement- the seating surrounds the stage and rises up in a series of rows, similar to a vineyard. The space contains no boxes or balconies to avoid any implied social hierarchies. It’s also column-free, possible due to the expansive steel roof structure, allowing for unobstructed views throughout. Gehry worked closely with acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota and former LA Philharmonic music director, Esa-Pekka Salonen, to run acoustic tests on scaled models. This process enabled them to perfect the hall’s acoustics through spatial and material means. The centerpiece of the main concert hall is a floor to ceiling, 6,134 pipe organ which Gehry designed with organ consultant Manuel Rosales.

Outside the WDCH is a large, elevated urban park, open to the public. The space includes an outdoor amphitheater and flower-like fountain covered in a mosaic of delft china, paying homage to Lilian Disney. The fountain is called “A Rose for Lily”. Gehry’s overall goal for the WDCH was to create “a living room for the city” and to make music accessible. In 2013 he stated, “A felt there was a need for a place that people felt comfortable, would like to come to, that became an iconic destination, that people would identify with it and feel like it was theirs.”

Today exciting additions are coming to fruition in the WDCH’s adjacent properties. This summer the Gehry designed Grand Hotel opened after 10 years in development. The property houses the hotel, residences, shops and a cinema. Also, adjacent to the WDCH is the construction of The Colburn Center, another Gehry designed building. The center will house a new performance space for The Colburn School.