Latvia's Ministry of Culture is behind the project to build the new concert hall in Riga for symphonic music.
The concert hall is one of the so-called 'Three Brothers' being built in Riga - three new buildings of significant cultural significance. The other two are the National Library and a museum of contemporary art.
Riga's existing concert hall seats about 700 people and was never designed as a musical venue.
The new purpose-built concert hall will accommodate more than 1800 people and benefit from an acoustic design, administrative space, rehearsal spaces in various sizes, audience activities and other facilities.
The musical brother is expected to open for the public in 2011.
The concert hall will also be the home to the resident companies: the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the chamber orchestra Sinfonietta Riga and the State Choir Latvia.
Riga, a town with more than 800 years of history, has never before built an acoustic concert hall.
The concert hall will be built on A-B Dambis, an old dam on the Daugava river, which runs through the centre of Riga.
It is a special location with an interesting history. The dam was built on wood piles in the 1880's and served to provide flow correction and flood protection. It was reconstructed in the 1960's after an attempt was made to blow it up during the Second World War. Today, the dam is in a critical state and will need attention before the building of the concert hall can go ahead.
The floor-plan of the building will be about 20.000 m2 with a large hall with room for more than 1800 people, and two smaller halls with room for 300 and 650 people respectively. In addition there will be a number of rehearsal spaces.
COWI has acted as client adviser providing, among other services, business plans, description of services, as well as a programme of requirements for the design works, and terms of reference for the acoustic and stage design.
The Latvian Ministry of Culture. COWI has worked with the State agency 'New Three Brothers' - an agency established by Latvia's Ministry of Culture to implement the three significant buildings in Riga.
Sīlis, Zābers & Kļava.
2007-2011