Филхармония, Берлин

Hans Scharoun placed the orchestra in the middle of the room and terraced the audience around it in vineyard blocks — an arrangement that, since the hall opened in 1963, has been imitated from Tokyo to Los Angeles. The Philharmonie is the home of the Berliner Philharmoniker; its asymmetrical tented roof and gold-anodised skin made it a landmark of the cultural quarter that grew up beside the wall. A smaller chamber-music hall, conceived in the same architectural language, later joined it on the site. No listener in the main hall sits much more than thirty-five metres from the conductor, which is the whole point of the design.