All of the surrounding buildings are older and traditional. Frank Gehry sought to bring an organic form that makes it look like the building can be a celebration everyday. Reflected light radiates in all directions from its stainless steel cladding, with walls that cant up and out, moving away from plumb in multiple directions at differing angles.

Walt Disney Concert Hall occupies the corner of Grand Ave and First Street in the section of Los Angeles most familiarly known as “Downtown”. The Concert Hall is meant to be a single-purpose hall that is inviting, open and accessible to all the streets. Gehry wanted the Concert Hall to be a “living room for the city” as it particularly takes shape in the billowing lobby so open to Grand Ave, where passersby can stroll at will in and out at many hours of the day and night.

The axis of the hall goes diagonally through the block, rather than orienting it exclusively toward to Music Center, pointing its open-cornered entrance toward Grand Ave and the Civic Center Mall. WDCH promotes the resuscitation of the Civic Center Mall and encourages the opening of its green spaces to the city beyond.

The building pushes up against the confines of its corner lot, seeming to elbow its way onto the sidewalk and out into the intersection.

Original sketches by Gehry. He took into account the entire site and its surroundings as he was designing the building. How would it fit?

Wrapped in gardens and balconies, the Concert Hall provides a dramatic podium for surveying Downtown Los Angeles and its breathtaking setting.

Plans and sections of the building to show how the main hall fits into the whole building.

Theater layout to show the intimacy between the orchestra and the audience.

The dramatically curved exterior of Walt Disney Concert Hall is clad in stainless steel panels. The building's orientation, combined with the curving and folding exterior walls, will present highly sculptural compositions that wrap the entire building, presenting multiple facades to the surrounding neighborhood.

The grand stairway and oval courtyard will form the primary entrance to the building and orient it to the existing Music Center complex. Towering glass panels will create a spectacular entry to the Hall's main lobby.

An urban park for public gathering surrounds Walt Disney Concert Hall and will feature expansive public gardens, colorful and ornamental landscaping, walkways, benches, and shade trees.

The 2,265-seat Walt Disney Concert Hall Auditorium will provide both visual and aural intimacy for an unparalleled musical experience.

The groundbreaking "vineyard" shape of the Hall with its curved wood ceiling will retain characteristics of a traditional "shoebox" style concert hall. Audience members will surround the orchestra platform for a uniquely interactive and intimate experience and a pipe organ will occupy a central position between the seating blocks at the rear of the stage.

An Atrium Reception Hall will feature large glass panels that open onto Grand Avenue providing an active façade and entryway to the building. At the Grand Avenue level, a series of glass walls will define a restaurant, gift shop, café, box office, and access to the parking garage below.A large Pre-Concert Foyer will accommodate up to 600 people for a variety of activities including pre-concert events and intermission events, lectures, banquets, and education programs.

Backstage facilities for musicians of the Philharmonic will include a choral hall, ensemble and rehearsal studios, dressing rooms, a library and reading room, spaces specifically designed for storage of the orchestra's instruments, and a lounge.

Special suites for the Music Director and guest conductors and artists will provide the needed amenities for concert preparation and private receptions.