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I'm Isabelle McKinnon, architect. I was born in Quebec City
and I've been living in Berlin for two years.
I'm standing in front of the Berlin Philharmonie,
part of a vast cultural complex called the Kulturforum.
The building was designed by Hans Scharoun in 1956.
Scharoun won the competition for this building,
but it was meant for a different site.
The location was changed in 1957 to give it a more central position
in the Greater Berlin area, not just in West Berlin.
It's right next to the Tiergarten, which is just over there.
Construction took place between 1957 and 1963.
Scharoun was a German architect.
He was known, in fact,
before the war, as a precursor of the International style.
During the 2nd World War,
since there were no work opportunities,
he started drawing watercolours and developed a more dynamic style,
of which the Philarmonie is an example.
The building comprises two sections.
The white base contains
all of the services:
cloakroom, bathrooms, entrance, stairs...
The yellow section, very dynamic, as we can see,
is notable for its three inverted arcs
that clearly owe their shape to the hall ceiling design.
What's important about Scharoun
is that the frontage came last. He designed from the inside out.
So the outside is a result of the shape of the inside space.
Initially, the building wasn't meant to have a yellow exterior.
It was supposed to be pink, grey and white.
For financial reasons... When construction was finished,
they ran out of money, and the outside was left
in raw concrete for about 15 years.
They just painted the upper section yellow
to make it look nicer. But why yellow?
It's a symbolic colour that marks important buildings.
In 1978, 15 years later,
when they decided to finish the outside walls,
they chose yellow aluminum plating,
because in people's minds, that colour
was already synonymous with the Philharmonie.
This venue, with a history rich in anecdotes,
is where Yannick... Sorry, Yannick Nézet-Séguin,
will be performing starting this Thursday.
I'm looking forward to it, as I'll be going on Saturday.
I hope you enjoy the concert, but I mostly hope I do! �