Stuttgart Music School, Germany (1997)

The music school was one of a number of new cultural buildings in Stuttgart and completed the sequence of buildings in the urban masterplan conceived for Stuttgart’s ‘Cultural Mile’. Its site is adjacent to the Staatsgalerie, designed by the same architects and completed in 1984, and its shapes and materials complement the earlier building.

The school has nine floors with accommodation for students and the public. The chamber music/lecture hall and the 450-seat concert hall and library are found in the main focus of the building – the cylindrical tower on the plaza, which bulges out on either side and registers the presence of the music school on the city’s skyline. The roof terrace provides spectacular views of the city.

The entrance to the school is a four-storey foyer, which provides multiple

connections with the rest of the building and acts as the main public vestibule.There is also accommodation for the departments of musical theory, composition, pitch, and practice. The senate room has its own rooftop terrace for receptions and intimate concerts.

The Music School at Stuttgart was the last building that Sir James Stirling worked on before his death in 1992. The designs were completed by his partner Michael Wilford and other members of the partnership. When Wilford accepted the award in November 1997 he brandished the trophy and declared: ‘This is for Jim’.

James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates
Commissioned 1986
Completed 1996

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