Cologne Philharmonic Hall

The Cologne Philharmonic Hall guide is built around an odd design flaw: the concert hall sits underground beneath Heinrich Boell Platz in Cologne, and its roof doubled as a busy public square with little thought for what all that foot traffic would do to a chamber built for near silence. It follows how skateboarders, wheeled suitcases and commuters have sent sound straight into performances since the hall opened in nineteen eighty-six, and how the city has posted guards here since nineteen ninety-nine just to redirect pedestrians during concerts. That happens up to a thousand times a year, at real cost to the city. The guide poses an obvious question: why not just fix the square instead.