Disney, Walt, Concert Hall, Downtown, Los Angeles, CA (1987-2003)

Structure Type: built works - performing arts structures - concert halls

Designers: Gehry Partners, LLP (firm); Levine/Seegel Associates, Consulting Engineers (firm); Mortenson, M.A., Construction Company (firm); bmd (firm); Frank Owen Gehry (architect); Levine (engineer); Bruce Mau (graphic designer); Morton A. Mortenson Sr. (building contractor); Michael A. Sapio (engineer); Mark H. Seegel (electrical engineer); Anil H. Shenoy (mechanical engineer); Aravind H. Shenoy (engineer); Anil S. Shinde (mechanical engineer)

Dates: constructed 1987-2003

click to open gallery Aerial photograph of the Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA, c. 2019. From Google Maps/Street View
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111 South Grand Avenue
Downtown, Los Angeles, CA 90012
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Overview

This large and flamboyant project, required 16 years to complete, and was in danger of abandonment on a few occasions. At a cost of $388 million, the concert hall included a restaurant, gift shops, gardens and terraces, a 500-seat pre-concert sitting area, and a 300-seat rehearsal hall for chamber music concerts.

Building History

The concert hall officially opened 10/23/2003; Architect: Gehry Partners, Los Angeles; Client: Music Center of Los Angeles County, County of Los Angeles; Operator: Music Center of Los Angeles County; Acoustics: Nagata Acoustics, Tokyo; Landscape design: Melinda Taylor Landscape Design, Los Angeles; Landscape architect: Lawrence Reed Moline, Culver City; Consulting Engineers: Levine / Seegel Associates. Building Contractor: M. A. Mortenson Company, Minneapolis, MN.

Hall to Rival World's Best Gets Underway - Reuters (12/13/1999)More details on the history of the Hall;

PCAD id: 804

Publications

Milionis, Allison, "Glare report prompts alterations to Disney Concert Hall", Architectural Record, 193: 1, 30, 1/2005. "The Happiest Place on Earth", Design Perspectives, 1, 6/2004. Koenig, Gloria, "Book Look Iconic LA: Stories of LA's Most Memorable Buildings", Echoes, 36, 87, 05/2001. Gilbert-Rolfe, Jeremy, Gehry, Frank, Frank Gehry: The City and Music, 2001. Garcetti, Gil, Frozen Music, 2004. Rich, Alan, "Bright Prospects Even Without Havergal", LA Weekly, 50, 2002-11-29/2002-12-05. Tanabe, Roy, "Notes from the Hall", Los Angeles Times, B13, 10/22/2003. "Disney Hall will finally be constructed", Los Angeles Times, 12/8/1999. "Council waives permit fees for Disney Hall", Los Angeles Times, 1/20/2000. Swed, Mark, "At Disney, a soaring tribute", Los Angeles Times, E1, E7, 6/7/2004. "Will a City in Search of a Symbol Find One in Its New Concert Hall?", Los Angeles Times, B13, 10/22/2003. Haithman, Diane, "The Reluctant Savior", Los Angeles Times Magazine, 22-23, 30, 10/19/2003. Muschamp, Herbert, "From Ground Zero to Gehry's Disney", New York Times, 35, 1/19/2003. "Hall Back on Front Burner", Orange County Register, 12/13/1999. Curl, James Stevens, Oxford Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, front cover, 2006. Hammond, Michael, Performing Architecture Opera Houses, Theatres and Concert Halls for the Twenty-First Century, front cover, 2006. "Sound Design", San Jose Mercury News, 12/10/1999. ter Borch, Ine, Keuning, David, Skins for Buildings, 184-185, 2004. Koshalek, Richard, Symphony: Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall, 2003. Fadda, Mariopaolo, Walt Disney Concert Hall di Frank O. Gehry, 2004. Culvahouse, Tim, "How the West Coast is being won", World Architecture, 101: 20-23, 11-12/2001.

Exhibitions

Pacific Coast Architecture Database (PCAD) — © 2005-Alan Michelson

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