Walt Disney Concert Hall
A trip to Los Angeles isn’t complete without visiting LA’s cultural icon, Walt Disney Concert Hall. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry, the concert hall is part of Music Center’s premier collection of performing arts venues. Walt Disney Concert Hall is home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The hall offers free audio tours daily, as well as private group tours. Below are a few highlights.
Tree Columns
As you step inside the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Atrium Hall, you’ll notice the large columns clad in Douglas fir. Although aesthetically pleasing, the columns contain the inner workings of the building and deliver air conditioning and lighting to the main lobby.
The "tree trunks" are an example of Walt Disney Concert Hall’s dialogue with nature. Throughout the hall, you’ll see how architect Frank Gehry has incorporated Lillian Disney’s love of gardening.
She once told Gehry that she wanted the hall to feel like a little old cottage in England covered with vines. It was at that point that Gehry finally understood how to incorporate her wishes into the hall. In addition to the tree trunks, you’ll find examples of this in the floral patterns of the fabric (named "Lillian") and flowering motifs throughout the public garden area.
Steel Elements
Many people are surprised to discover that Gehry originally wanted the hall to be covered in stone. He changed his mind after some time (and prodding by civic leaders) — and decided to go with stainless steel. All the curves that Gehry envisioned made the building an extremely difficult one to construct. Gehry and his team had to use aerospace software called CATIA (Computer-Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application) to piece the steel beams together. In fact, the project was so historic and labor intensive that many of the steel workers signed their names on the structural beams.
Also worth noticing is the exterior area of the Founders Room. Shortly after the opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall, tenants of the neighboring condos discovered that the glare from the building’s stainless steel heated up their rooms by as much as 15 degrees. The solution was to dull the surface and reduce glare with a new finish.
A Rose for Lilly
As you walk through the public garden, you’ll notice a wonderfully orchestrated fountain. Gehry designed "A Rose for Lilly" specifically as a tribute to the hall’s initial donor. Knowing that Lillian loved Royal Deft porcelain, Gehry and his team broke more than 200 vases and 8,000 tiles to create a mosaic for the fountain.
Even with a team of eight artists working nearly seven days a week, it took more than four months to complete the fountain. Weighing about 15 tons, the fountain is the size of a large SUV.
Look closely at the broken tiles. Gehry’s team of artists created individual "signature" tiles. Some of them are tributes to Gehry; others include an artist’s personal touch.
Garden Guide
The garden serves both as a public space and an urban oasis for Downtown LA. 45 trees represent six different varieties from Orchid Trees to Pink Trumpet Trees. All the trees come from Los Angeles and were installed using a 350-ton crane. The designers of the gardens scoured the city for the best trees, and often bought trees from private residences.
The great views of the city represent Gehry’s dedication to the concert hall’s neighbors. Rather than towering over Downtown LA, the building sits modestly within the city. See if you can snag views of the Los Angeles Central Public Library, the Hollywood Sign and the San Gabriel Mountains to the north.
