The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) organized the international architectural competition for the concept design of the Belgrade Philharmonic Concert Hall in 2021, at the request of the Government of Serbia, and in partnership with the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Culture and Information, Public Investment Management Office, City of Belgrade and the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. 

The Concert Hall will be the first of its kind in the Balkans, aligned with the best international practices with multiple performance, rehearsal and creative spaces including a symphonic concert hall with 1,600 seats and 400 orchestra and choir seats. UNDP’s goal was to ensure that, by its design, the Concert Hall would be a facility contributing to the social, economic, and environmental development of the country. 

The architectural design competition was conducted during 2021, targeting the world’s most renowned architectural companies. As a result, 37 applications were received from 15 countries. Following the prequalification process, which was based on technical and other procurement criteria, eight shortlisted companies have been invited to proceed to the next phase.

The competition entries were guided by the design brief developed by ARUP and Plan of Detailed Regulation adopted by the City of Belgrade in 2018. In the end, six proposals were received and evaluated by the jury. 

The jury that selected the winner of the architectural design competition was chaired by UNDP representative and consisted of nine members, comprising international and local architects, concert hall and competition experts, as well as representatives of the Government of Serbia, City of Belgrade and Belgrade Philharmonic.

The winner of the competition was Amanda Levete Architects (AL_A), while the other contestants were:

• Bevk Perovic arhitekti

• Estudio Lamela / Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos / ARCVS
  

• Diller Scofidio + Renfro

• MVRDV

• Snohetta Oslo

The overview of the winning and other concept designs can be downloaded from here.