Opened in 2003, this concert hall in downtown Los Angeles is home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It began with a $50 million gift from Lillian Disney in 1987, a tribute to her husband Walt's love of the arts and of the city.
Frank Gehry wrapped the hall in sweeping, curved panels of stainless steel. Gehry first designed it in stone, which he hoped would glow at night, but the steel was chosen to save money. A few mirror-polished panels once focused sunlight onto neighboring apartments, so in 2005 they were lightly sanded to stop the glare.
Inside, the 2,265-seat hall blends two classic layouts: terraced "vineyard" seating around the stage, and the long shoebox shape of halls like Vienna's Musikverein. Its acoustics, by Minoru Nagata and Yasuhisa Toyota, are widely praised.
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