The Bruges Concertgebouw in Belgium is clad in about 68,000 red terracotta tiles, according to Planergo. The building was completed in 2002 by the Robbrecht & Daem architecten agency of Belgium. The tiles were made in Saint Omer in northern France.
The concert venue has both a large hall and a smaller chamber music room; the former seats about 1,300 people while the latter seats 320. The building is said to have fantastic acoustics and its Lantern Tower has an exhibition space for contemporary artwork. The tower is built mostly of glass. The building was slightly controversial; people accused it of clashing with the more-historic buildings in Bruges.
The firm was founded in 1975 by Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem. They state a theme throughout their designs is a close working relationship with the visual arts. Their goal is to establish a contemporary and humane position through their buildings which juxtapose science with art.
Above image: Bruges Concertgebouw by Robbrecht & Daem architecten, 2002
Bruges Concertgebouw by Robbrecht & Daem architecten, 2002
Conceptual renderings of the concert hall.
Not all residents of Bruges have come to terms with the hard-edged precision, some argue brutality, of their concert hall. But the architects did try to bridge old and new in the choice of material, terracotta tiles, connecting to the most distinctive part of this city’s architectural legacy, its old brick buildings and stepped facades.
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