Orchestra Hall (Minneapolis)

Orchestra Hall, located on 11th Street at Peavey Plaza, between Nicollet Mall and Marquette Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, is home to the Minnesota Orchestra. It is a major landmark of the southern portion of Nicollet Mall and home to many events throughout the year, in addition to being the Orchestra's home.The auditorium seats 2,087, of whom about 1,200 are accommodated on the main floor. The remaining seats are placed in three balconies above and along the sides of the main floor. The auditorium is actually a second building separated for acoustical reasons by a one-inch gap from the "shell" which contains the lobby and various administrative offices. The stage contains an unusual feature: a large cube motif in the rear stage wall which continues along the ceiling towards the rear of the auditorium. The cubes were added for acoustic reasons, successfully, and turned out to be visually striking as well.HistoryThe Hall was built by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates in 1974 (as was the adjacent Peavey Plaza) and opened for the 1974 concert season.Originally noted for its Modernist design, chosen to represent an orchestra for everyone, not what was then perceived to be the formal "elitist" designs of the past. The exterior of the building was recognizable by its large, blue ventilation ducts. Their unusual size was chosen to reduce air velocity and hence noise. The lobby area's original "power plant" design was meant to remove tones of class and privilege from the symphony-going experience; it was upgraded in late 1997 and included several bars. Expansive windows overlooked the street.