Jinji Lake Concert Hall

The Suzhou Symphony Orchestra website uses cookies to improve and personalise your experience and to ensure the proper functioning of the website, your data will not be stored on our website after the closure of the website, by using this website you consent to the use of cookies,For more information, please visit the Privacy Policy，thanks!

About the Jinji Lake Concert Hall

The Jinji Lake Concert Hall is a gem within a gem. Situated within the renowned architect Paul Andreu’s Suzhou Culture and Arts Centre, the Jinji Lake Concert is designed and built specifically to be the home of the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra.

Inaugurated on September 30, 2017, the concert hall is a project of architectural ingenuity and acoustical marvel. The internationally acclaimed acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota led his team of specialists who devoted their talents and expertise to this project of restructuring the current exhibition hall in the Suzhou Culture and Arts Centre and building in its place a brand new structure that will occupy an area of 6,000 square meters and an acoustical volume of 8,000 cubic meters. Mr. Toyota’s previous masterpieces of acoustical engineering have included the Suntory Hall, the Helsinki Music Center and the Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg. Upon its completion the Jinji Lake Concert Hall will join that distinguished list of the most state-of-the-art concert venues in the world.

The Jinji Lake Concert Hall is built in the place of what was previously an exhibition hall, a brand new structure occupying an area of 7200square meters and an acoustical volume of 9600 cubic meters, the North Wing utilizes the existing curved double walls, which will both serve the acoustics and provide a fluid space for the concert hall. Optimizing the irregular shape of the hall, the design will minimize the distance between the artists and the audience using his signature “surround style”. The 500-seat audience seating area surrounds the stage, which at full capacity can accommodate a 120-member orchestra, creating immediacy and intimacy on one hand, versatility and flexibility on another.

The South Wing takes advantage of the regular shape in the current space to provide a designated area as the office for the orchestra. Three clearly defined spaces for rehearsals and performance, for educational and related activities and for administration exist harmoniously in the concert hall. The contemporary, world-class design will flow into the public area of the Suzhou Culture and Arts Centre, where using a variety of media and creative programming, the audience can have an interactive experience with music and with the orchestra, promoting further SZSO’s brand image.

Building a Concert Hall like an Instrument – Yasuhisa Toyota

The keyword in Mr. Toyota’s design philosophy is fluid dynamism, which in the application to the Jinji Lake Concert Hall means creating the seamless flow from music to architecture, using aesthetical elements of Suzhou as a kneading thread. The concept of dynamism comes from the Nineteenth Century German music theoretician Moritz Hauptmann’s classic treatise, “The Nature of Harmony and Meter”, in which he expostulated, “music is architecture in motion. The rippling edges of the tiled roofs, winding paths of beautiful stone pavement and the soft lines of the famous Suzhou silk are all elements of Suzhou’s landscape and heritage which will come into play with the music that will echo in these halls.

In Their Own Words……

An Interview with Erik Bergal
about the Jinji Lake Concert Hall
Maestro Toyota's assistant,
Nagata Acoustics

EB: The stage surface is of key acoustical importance since it is the closest sound reflecting surface. Alaskan Yellow Cedar has a fine grain that is strong enough to physically support the musicians while flexible enough to vibrate with the orchestra. Instruments like cello and double bass make a physical connection with the stage via their endpins and rely on the sympathetic vibrations to project their sound.

EB: The fans on the walls are used for acoustic diffusion. Incoming sound is scattered in many random directions. This creates an even sound field in the hall. You can think of this in the way a mirror creates a sharp reflection while frosted glass results in soft reflections.

EB: The steel mesh is acoustically transparent. This means that it can be used to create visible architectural features without affecting the acoustical condition.

EB: Reverberation time is a measure of how long it takes for sound energy to dissipate in a space. The metric is related to the impressions of richness and warmth. The Jinji Lake Concert Hall benefits from a tall ceiling and spacious volume for the number of seats, resulting in plenty of space for sound to reverberate. It is important to remember that there are many other factors which influence the acoustic quality of a hall and that it is impossible to summarize the acoustical quality with a single value.

EB: Adding seats behind the stage has many advantages. First, the seats can be used by the chorus so they are not crowded on stage. When choir is not needed, the seats can be used by the audience. Second, moving seats behind the stage moves the orchestra closer to the center of the hall reducing the average distance to any audience seat. Third, facing other audience members increases the sense of visual intimacy. These seats provide a unique place for the audience to sit where they can see the animated face of the conductor.

State-of-the-art Acoustics

“The inspiration for the design of this concert hall comes from the softness in the local culture of Suzhou and from the fluidity of music itself. The idea for designing these tiles on the wall shaped like a fan comes from the folding fans, a traditional element of Suzhou, which has a decorative effect but also fulfills an important acoustical function with its irregular surfaces perfect for the reflection of sound.”

——SIP Urban Redevelopment Co. Project Manager, Weiqin Chi

“Architects and designers always consider the functional needs of the space first, before examining the actual design. The main purpose of the Jinji Lake Concert Hall is to serve as a home base for the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, so it has to fulfill the function both as a proper rehearsal space and as a chamber performance venue. So in this limited area, the first and foremost goal of the acoustic design is to satisfy all the needs that such a venue requires. In this case, ‘being small’ can become an advantage for the Jinji Lake Concert Hall because it draws the audience into the focal point of this hall’s ultimate purpose. This ‘surround-style’ seating of the audience around the performance area is akin to a gathering of family and friends, which not only creates an immediacy between the performer and the public, but also stimulate the desire for interpersonal communication.”

——Yasuhisa Toyota

“Suzhou is a city with two facades. It is an ancient culture with a long legacy in the theatre art, featuring such cherished genres as the Pingtan and the Kunqu Opera. It is also a contemporary society with modern ventures. The construction of the Suzhou Jinji Lake Concert Hall has taken a giant leap forward in the internationalization of the city and is in perfect synchronicity with the spirit of the Suzhou Industrial Park,” Mr. Xu proudly comments. He adds that “the Suzhou Jinji Lake Concert Hall possesses a distinct Suzhou feel with all the stylistic elements of Suzhou represented in its design. Any audience member anywhere who sees an image of this concert hall can easily identify this hall as Suzhou’s own concert hall.”

——SIP Urban Redevelopment Co. Project Manager, Weiqin Chi

——Yasuhisa Toyota

——Feng Xu, principal architect of the Jinji Lake Concert Hall, professor of architecture at the Tongji

——Tongji University Architecture Firm, Chief Architect: Yunbing Zhou