An Introduction to the Tenerife Concert Hall

Calatrava’s Tenerife Concert Hall which was finished in 2003 sits in the Canary Islands, Spain. It is located in the City of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The building features an auditorium which seats 1800, and a chamber music hall which seats 400 people. The building was commissioned in 1991 as a facility for musical and other cultural events, but also as a focal point of the city which would establish its growth and development.

The auditorium is recognizable by its curvy, concrete shell exterior.
‘Most of the richly differentiated volumes of this intricate compact composition were derived from relatively simple geometrical shapes or operations. For example, the shape of the roof is defined by two intersecting cone segments. The shape of the 50-meter hugh symmetrical inner shell of the concert hall was generated by rotating a curve to describe an ellipse: a wedge if approximately 15 degrees was removed from the center of this body so that its two segments form a pronounced ridge that supports the sweep of the roof.’

- Alexander Tzonis,Santiago Calatrava, The Complete Works, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 2004, pp202

The main feature of the building is the huge, symmetrical, wave-like curve that arches 58 meters over the auditorium. The narrowing bow ends at a point and implies movement; typical of Calatrava. The majority of the building is made of concrete giving the exterior structure more dominance. However, smaller areas throughout the plinth of the building are made from the local volcanic rock, basalt. The plinth actually houses several technical facilities as well as the change rooms. On the side of the building are two wide 50 meter arches which serve as the entrance for performing artists. The main entrance is on the raised plaza under the hanging curve. A interesting thing to note is the relationship between the interior and exterior; with such a grand exterior, its amazing how such magnificent interior spaces exist within.

SOURCES

• Alexander Tzonis, Santiago Calatrava, The Complete Works, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 2004
• Philip Jodidio, Calatrava, Santiago Calatrava - Complete Works 1979-2007, Cologne: Tash
• Anthony Tischhauser, Calatrava - Public Buildings, Berlin: Birkhauser Verlag AG, 1998