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This is the new series starting last month, “Sunday Series“. And now we are having Architecure for Music series.

Music has a close bound with architecture for quite some time. Concert halls are also the ones which effects the music and also effected by music. They have also given birth to great architecture designs in the globe.

This series presents the beauty of the structure, in which creativity flows abundantly.

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This beautiful building was designed by Santiago Calavatra so that Valencia, a major city in Spain, would have its own beautiful arts complex.

Under the huge curved roof structure, 230 metres in length, the building rises 14 stories plus 3 stories below ground. Its height is 75 metres. The 40,000 sq. metre building contains four auditoriums:

  • The Sala Principal (Main Hall), which seats 1,700 people, functions primarily for opera, but it can be converted for dance and other performing arts.
The Hall has 4 tiers of seating, a stage equipped with all major facilities and an orchestra pit capable of housing 120 musicians, the third largest in the world. Sadly, it has suffered a number of incidents since its opening which do not allow it to run at full speed. The first of these was the collapse of the main stage platform with the complete set of Jonathan Miller’s production of “Don Giovanni” in December, 2006. This forced the “Palau” to cancel the last performance of “La Bohème”, all of “La Belle et la Bête” and meant that the management had to re-think the whole of what remained of the inaugural opera season. In November, 2007, the entire complex suffered a series of floods which meant that the recently re-built stage platform was paralised once again due to the fact that almost two metres of water entered the lower floors of the building and wrecked the electronics and the motors of the complex stage equipment, forcing the management to once again re-schedule the season, delay the premiere of “Carmen” and cancel the opera “1984″.
  • The Auditorio is located above the Main Hall. It seats 1,500, and its facilities include sound and video systems capable of screening events taking place below.

Officially given to the managing Trust during the 2007-2008 season, it is a spectacular venue with multiple uses, from classical music concerts to political rallies.

  • Aula Magistral is capable of seating 400 people and is used for chamber music performances or conferences.
  • Martí i Soler Theatre was constructed below the base of the Palau’s plume and seats 400. It shall be used for theatre productions and as a training centre for the main auditoria.

This complex was built as the last part of the grand 1995 design of City of Arts and Sciences, which also houses the oceanarium.

This building has its sail trademark overhead, one of Calavatra’s own signature on architecture. Also surrounded by ponds, this fish-shape building can house 4500 audiences under its roof. This building is also known as Valencia Opera House.

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