Gehry's stainless steel origami — acoustically perfect, visually ecstatic
Concert hall in Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Featured in Frank Gehry's definitive monograph, Building Art: Life and Work of Frank Gehry.
Visitor Guide
Free self-guided audio tours available. The rooftop Blue Ribbon Garden is a hidden treat — most visitors miss it. If you can, attend a concert; the acoustics are sublime.
From Grand Avenue for the full billowing façade at sunset. The rooftop garden for intimate detail shots of the curving steel. At night with the interior lit and visible through glass.
Free tours most days. Concert tickets range widely. The garden is always free during opening hours. Free concerts and events happen regularly.
The original titanium panels were replaced with matte stainless steel after testing — the reflective titanium was literally blinding nearby buildings and superheating adjacent apartments. Yasuhisa Toyota designed the acoustic interior — the vineyard seating was inspired by Berlin Philharmonie.
1 hour (tour) or 2+ hours (concert)
Design & Structure
Gehry used CATIA (like Bilbao, but more refined) to translate his crumpled-paper models into buildable geometry. The steel exterior and the wooden acoustic interior were modeled separately — the two "buildings" were then digitally coordinated. The acoustic geometry was optimized through ray-tracing simulations.
Stainless steel exterior (brushed finish, not polished — learned from the neighbor-blinding problem), Douglas fir acoustic interior, convex wooden panels. The interior wood was shaped to scatter sound evenly.
The billowing exterior is a non-structural rain screen — the actual structure is a conventional steel frame behind it. The complexity is in the cladding geometry, not the structure.
More by Frank Gehry
View all →
Yale University
Princeton University
Hennessy
University of Cincinnati
The Guardian
Yale New Haven Hospital
Nearby in Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Beverly Center
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Colburn School
Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics
Frequently Asked Questions
Who designed Walt Disney Concert Hall?+
Walt Disney Concert Hall was designed by Frank Gehry and completed in 2003. It is located in Los Angeles, United States.
Where is Walt Disney Concert Hall located?+
Walt Disney Concert Hall is located in Los Angeles, United States. Its coordinates are 34.0553°, -118.2500°.
When was Walt Disney Concert Hall built?+
Walt Disney Concert Hall was completed in 2003. It was designed by Frank Gehry.
Can I visit Walt Disney Concert Hall?+
Walt Disney Concert Hall is a real building in Los Angeles that can be viewed from the outside. Check local information for interior access and visiting hours. Use the Parametric Atlas walking tour feature to plan a route that includes this building.