Design revealed for $373-million music center in London

The design for a multimillion-dollar concert hall to be housed in London's Barbican Centre has been unveiled.

The $373-million building will be a joint project of the Barbican, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Guildhall School of Music& Drama. It will include a 2,000-seat concert hall, bars, restaurants, and public viewing areas that look down on the stage and the city.

The Barbican is home to many top musicians and performers and has hosted performers such as pianist Wang Yuja, the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, pianist Belle Chen, and Tangram, a band that weaves Chinese and Western classical music.

Designed by US architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the new music hub will be located at the southern tip of the Barbican site, with the main concert hall raised up off the ground and a public realm beneath.

The building will sit on a site that is currently home to the Museum of London, which is relocating to nearby Smithfield market.

At the top of the structure will be a smaller concert hall for intimate contemporary performances and events, with views of St Paul's Cathedral and the London skyline.

As well as a state-of-the-art concert hall, there will also be education, rehearsal, and commercial spaces.

"We imagine a concert hall for the 21st century that embraces both a bespoke and a loose-fit approach: tailored for exceptional symphonic sound, yet agile enough to accommodate creative work across disciplines and genres," said Elizabeth Diller, founding partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

The project has the backing of the City of London Corporation, which has injected $3.2 million into the initiative.

Organizers said they are "working with a number of major potential donors" from the corporate sector and discussions are ongoing.

"We believe in the power of music to transform people's lives and, more importantly, we believe it is for everybody," said Simon Rattle, music director of the London Symphony Orchestra. "The idea that there can be a new cultural center in London, in Culture Mile, and that, in the middle of it, a truly great international, modern concert hall of our time, equipped for everything of this age, is very exciting. A sign of London as a dynamic cultural city, at a time when we are going to need this more and more."

The center will be run by the Barbican and be the new home of the London Symphony Orchestra and the base for the Guildhall School of Music & Drama's new Institute for Social Impact.

The proposed Centre for Music is situated on a key cultural route in the capital, linking north from Tate Modern, over the Millennium Bridge, and past St Paul's Cathedral.

Catherine McGuinness, policy chair at the City of London Corporation, said: "The proposed Centre for Music would be a landmark building in the city's emerging Culture Mile, and arguably become regarded as the envy of the international arts, music, and educational community."