Walt Disney Concert Hall

Frank Gehry’s stainless-steel curves are only the first act. Inside Walt Disney Concert Hall, the real spectacle is how clearly an orchestra can fill the room without amplification, from the quietest strings to the full force of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Designed by Gehry and opened to the public in October 2003, the hall was built as the LA Phil’s home, not just a photogenic landmark. Its acoustics were developed with Minoru Nagata and Yasuhisa Toyota, modelled in part on Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. The vineyard-style seating wraps the audience around the stage, while Douglas fir acoustic panelling gives the auditorium a warm, precise sound that makes a subscription concert the best way to understand the building.

There is drama before a note is played: the transparent street-level lobby, the Grand Staircase Gehry imagined as part of a “living room for the city”, and, behind the stage, the 6,134-pipe organ with its exposed pipes rising like sculpture.