Auditorium

Almost a decade in the making, MAD is nearing completion on its China Philharmonic Concert Hall in Beijing. The ambitious project is defined by a glowing translucent exterior that's meant to be reminiscent of a piece of white jade.

Imagine talking to someone across a crowd of thousands without using a phone, or sitting way up the back at a concert, but hearing everything perfectly. This is the promise of acoustic lenses, and researchers at the universities of Sussex and Bristol in the UK think they’ve something to shout about.

Japan's Shigeru Ban is famous for using materials like cardboard to build innovative refugee shelters, but his large-scale projects are equally impressive. La Seine Musicale is a ship-shaped music venue crowned by an almost egg-like auditorium with track-mounted solar array.

When you're one of the world's top symphony orchestras, it's only right that you should play in one of the world's best concert halls. That was the basis upon which MAD Architects worked when designing a new translucent, glowing, lotus-flower-inspired home for the China Philharmonic Orchestra.

Buildings that contain auditoriums generally need to be large in order to fit tiered seating inside. A recently completed concert hall in Blaibach, Germany, however, creates this tiered effect in a simpler way. The whole building slopes down towards the front of the performance space.

The Italian city of Trento donated this colorful auditorium designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano to earthquake-affected Aquila.