Belgrade, 12 April 2022 – Following a rigorous, competitive, and transparent process, the Amanda Levete Architects team (AL_A) from London has been selected as a winner of the international architectural design competition for the concept design of the future Belgrade Philharmonic Concert Hall, to be located in New Belgrade, next to the Palace of Serbia, in Block 13.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) organized the international competition in 2021, at the request of the Government of Serbia, and in partnership with the Office of the Prime Minister, Public Investment Management office, Ministry of culture and information, City of Belgrade and the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra.

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 and City of Belgrade.

The contract for the development of the full set of required technical documentation needed before the construction begins, has been signed between UNDP and the AL_A winning team from London, in the total amount of 10,229,850 USD. AL_A is the award-winning architecture studio founded by the RIBA Stirling Prize-winning architect Amanda Levete. Completed projects include the Victoria & Albert Museum Exhibition Road Quarter in London and the Museum of Art, Architecture & Technology in Lisbon.

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 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 strategic arts and culture planning consultants OVE ARUP International Ltd, and the 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 overview of the submitted six proposals is available on the UNDP Serbia website.

The next step - the development of the technical documentation is divided into three phases and will follow Serbian Law on construction and planning.