Rem Koolhaas of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture designed the concert hall, with AFA Arup Group as engineers and Renz van Luxemburg as acoustician. The Ministry of Culture announced construction on September 1, 1998, and the site in Boavista was chosen in March 1999. Building took about four years and cost 100 million euros, over schedule. It opened to the public on April 14, 2005.
The article gives no named style. It describes a nine-floor asymmetrical polyhedron, resembling a beached ship's hull, set apart from the neoclassical layout around it. The exterior is white cement with large glass windows, and the auditorium surfaces carry a gold-leaf woodgrain pattern. The article says it is the only concert hall with two walls of glass.
The Suggia Hall seats 1,238 in one section and 1,300 in another. The City of Porto owns the building, and the Fundação Casa da Música operates it.
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