Took the Metro to the Disney Concert Hall and took the self-guided audio tour of the Gehry-designed hall this morning. I had to eat lots of the unkind thought I’d had about it. It was absolutely beautiful, and beautifully designed with people in mind as well. Every aspect, from inside or out, was fresh and inviting and drew the eye. Curves naturally led to warm conversation areas.

From outside pictures it looks like there are no windows, but the curves hide big “cracks” that allow in lots of natural light and there are lots of skylights as well, bringing in natural light. At night, light spills out through the cracks and skylights and washes over the silvered surfaces of the curves giving them a soft gilding. Gorgeous!

Inside the main entrance hall there were large columns in the shape of stylized wooden trees. They served structurally to hold up the building, and they also served to bring in lighting and air ducts. We couldn’t go into the main concert hall, but did see the BP (Petroleum) Hall, which was full of curves and clad in the same fine vertical-grained wood, covered with curves of tiny holes for better acoustics. A truly beautiful job.

From outside pictures it looks like there are no windows, but the curves hide big “cracks” that allow in lots of natural light and there are lots of skylights as well, bringing in natural light. At night, light spills out through the cracks and skylights and washes over the silvered surfaces of the curves giving them a soft gilding.

The BP (Petroleum) Hall, which was full of curves and clad in the same fine vertical-grained wood, covered with curves of tiny holes for better acoustics.