Berliner Philharmonie

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Entrance to the concert hall

The Berlin Philharmonic rehearsing inside the Philharmonie

The Berliner Philharmonie is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, located in the Tiergarten district. The building is located on Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße, named for the Philharmonic's longest-serving principal conductor, in the Kulturforum area of Berlin not far from Potsdamer Platz. The hall is the primary concert venue of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. There is a sister music venue, the Kammermusiksaal, next to the Philharmonie proper. The Philharmonie has 2,440 seats, whilst the Kammermusiksaal has 1,180.

Hans Scharoun designed the hall, which was constructed over the years 1960-1963. It is a singular building, asymmetrical and tentlike, with the main concert hall in the shape of a pentagon. The seating offers excellent positions from which to view the stage through the irregularly increasing height of the seat rows. The stage is at the center of the hall, with seats surrounding it on all sides. The Philharmonie is highly regarded for the quality of its acoustics.^[1]

On 20 May 2008, a fire broke out at the hall. One-quarter of the roof underwent considerable damage as firefighters cut openings to reach the flames beneath the roof.^[1] ^[2] The hall interior did sustain water damage as well, but was otherwise "generally unharmed." The firefighters limited damage by the use of foam.^[3] The cause of the fire has been attributed to welding work, and no serious damage was caused either to the structure or interior of the building.^[4] Concert activity resumed, as scheduled, on 2 June 2008 with a concert by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.^[5]