Exploring performance at the tenth WAF

This year the World Architecture Festival (WAF) celebrates its tenth anniversary. The three day event will be held at Arena Berlin from the 15th to the 17th of November 2017. Visitors can expect the same great combination of awards ceremony, live judging, talks, tours, and great opportunities for networking. It will once again attract architects from all around the world. The theme for this year's WAF was recently revealed to be "performance". Much of the programme and the tours will be focused on the various aspects of this, including aesthetics, technical, economical, and even psychological.Performance, regardless of how it is calculated, is essential to the success of architecture. Those designs that fail to consider it in all of its guises will struggle to achieve their specific goals. In fact the lack of consideration can have an impact on the wider area, potentially affecting a district or whole city.Some parts of the programme will focus specifically on highly regarded performance venues where concerts are held. In these cases the quality of the sound and being able to get the best from the performing musicians is crucial to success.One venue that people will have the chance to visit is Berlin Philharmonie. The top performance venue was designed by Hans Scharoun. It was finished in 1963 and created the concept of listening to music in the round. The stage is in the middle of the 2,440 seat Grosser Sal, giving everybody a great view and fantastic acoustics. The pioneering style was so popular that it became a model for similar concert halls all around the world.At Coffey Architects we consider performance in every single design we create, whether it is a public building, a commercial premises, or residential architecture in London. We want every single property to perform and enhance its setting rather than potentially detracting from it. To achieve this we work carefully to create the perfect interior and exterior.The exploration of performance at WAF will be fantastic and can provide a great deal of inspiration for architects.