Auditorio de Tenerife

The Auditorio de Tenerife is on Tenerife, an island that belongs to Spain. It stands right by the sea.

People come here to listen to music. Its white roof curves up high into the sky.

The Auditorio de Tenerife stands on the Los Llanos waterfront of Santa Cruz, the capital of Tenerife, between a seaside park and the edge of the port. The office of its architect, Santiago Calatrava, says it connects the city to the ocean.

It holds a main concert hall with 1,800 seats and a smaller hall for chamber music with 400 seats. Over the main hall, the curved roof rises 58 meters high.

Calatrava's office describes the auditorium on the Los Llanos waterfront of Santa Cruz, between the Marine Park and the edge of the port, connecting the city to the ocean and creating a significant urban landmark. The all-concrete building is defined by the sweep of its roof, which rises to 58 meters over the main auditorium before curving down and narrowing to a point.

The complex contains an 1,800-seat auditorium and a 400-seat chamber music hall. Its base forms a public plaza over the whole site and absorbs the changes in level between the surrounding roads.

Inside, the walls are covered in wood shaped like crystals. They help the music sound good.

Instead of a curtain, the stage has a screen made of metal strips that folds up!

Inside the main hall, the wood panels on the walls are shaped like crystals. This helps the music sound just right. Laser tests were used to decide where to place panels that bounce sound around the room.

The stage has no curtain. Instead it has a folding screen of metal strips, which lifts up to reflect sound above the orchestra.

To fine-tune the acoustics, the interior wood paneling takes a crystalline form, and the placing of sound reflectors was set by laser tests, which also helped define the vaulted interior. Instead of curtains, the stage has a concertina screen of vertical aluminum slats that lifts into the auditorium to act as a sound reflector above the orchestra pit.

The stepped base, clad in local volcanic basalt, holds the chamber hall, technical rooms and dressing rooms. Wide arches spanning 50 meters on each side form the artists' entrance, and the foyers are naturally ventilated, with air flowing through the glazed areas beneath and between the shells.

In this photo, the white concert hall shines under a deep blue sky. Its giant roof curves over the top like a wave!

This photo was taken on 28 April 2015, on a sunny day. The huge curved roof sweeps up and over the white building and ends in a sharp point. Below it are rounded white shells, a wide arch on the right and a wall with nine round windows on the left.

The building stands on wide dark steps, and far away on the left you can see mountains and part of the port.

The photograph (28 April 2015, by Thomas Wolf, a Quality Image on Commons) shows the side of the building: the cantilevered roof tapering to a point, the white tiled shells, a broad arch on the right, a stepped wall pierced by nine round openings on the left, and the dark stepped base and paved plaza in front, with port structures and mountains at the far left.