FURNISHING ELBPHILHARMONIE | Daniel Schöning

The furnishing of Hamburg’s new concert hall Elbphilharmonie has been completed. Daniel Schöning whose architecture office WRS ARCHITEKTEN & STADTPLANER GMBH was commissioned with the interior concept and furnishing in January 2015, engaged the Ha mburg-based design office Studio Besau-Marguerre to support him in this task. Together, the interdisciplinary team realised the interior concept and furnishing for the spectacular concert hall in Hamburg and designed a range of furniture specifically for this project. 

The furniture concept, that in addition to the foyers of the Gr and and the Small Concert Hall also in-cludes the three lounges, the conductors’ and solists’ suites as well as the rehearsal rooms, subtly corresponds with the spectacular architectural concept by Herzog & de Meuron.

CONCEPT FOR THE FOYERS OF THE SMALL AND THE GRAND CONCERT HALL 

Eva Marguerre, Marcel Besau and Daniel Schöning have created a noticeably related product family, that is used in the foyer around the Grand Concert Hall. The si ngle elements of the family, the high table, the bench and the side table, become recognisable Elbphilharmonie furniture. In the foyer of the Grand Concert Hall the furniture is specified in white, for the foyer of the Small Concert Hall the furniture is featured in black. 

Central to the design process were the high requirements on the usage and exposure of furniture in public spaces. Thus, all of the furniture’s surfaces are easily exchangeable after excessive use. 

The high table consists of a powdered steel frame that holds th ree circular levels. A marble slab is inserted on the top steel plate to form the tabletop. The two low er levels offer additional storage space. Design language and materiality for the side table and the bench, the other two pieces in this family, are deduced from the high table. Positioned alongside the side corridors in front of the glass fa cade, the new furniture designs enable the visitors to enjoy the spec tacular view. 

Overall, the product family is characterized by a formal restra int and a simple geometry. The natural-ness of the marble as well as the upholstery of the bench contrast with the lightweight construction of the steel frame. It visualises harmoniously the main idea behin d the interior concept. 

FURNITURE DESIGN FOR THE KLAUS-MICHAEL AND CHRISTIANE KÜHNE SKY LOUNGE 

For the Klaus-Michael and Christiane Kühne Sky Lounge, the VIP L ounge of the Elbphilharmonie, Eva Marguerre, Marcel Besau and Daniel Schöning have designed a family of glass tables, that are specified in the Elbphilharmonie in variations of an elongated h igh table, dining table and side table. They expertly correspond with the particular spacial conditions of the room. 

Also these pieces of furniture toy with the value and feel of n atural material and thus take up the over-all main furnishing concept. The smooth, cold material glass is contrasted here with the warm and structured material of wood – quasi as a reversal of the buildi ng’s architecture with its historic brick base and top glass structure. 

All versions of the table family consist of a glass substructur e from black transparent glass slabs, that make up different transparent almost opaque layers due to their arrangement and overlapping. Inserted, black solid wood panels form the tabletop. 

An additional own design of Eva Marguerre, Marcel Besau and Dan iel Schöning is a bar counter from glass, which takes up the materiality of the table series and a dditionally emphasises the distinctness of the lounge.