Frank Gehry to design a concert hall for Wimbledon

Frank Gehry is working on a design for a 1,250-seat concert hall in Wimbledon, London.

Anthony Wilkinson, founder and director of the annual Wimbledon international music festival, is driving the plans. He hopes to raise around £100 million for the project.

The announcement of this project comes weeks after the Centre for Music was announced at the Barbican, also in London. Although Gehry was shortlisted for this project (which went to Diller Scofidio + Renfro), he and Wilkinson have asserted that there is no rivalry between the two projects.

The hall at Wimbledon will be a “multi-genre” hall planned to host leading pop groups and classical music, including local and international ensembles.

Wilkinson says he has always admired Gehry’s architecture, and after visiting his building for the New World Symphony in Miami he wrote to the architect about Wimbledon. Gehry called him back saying that he had “always wanted to do a concert hall in London”, according to The Observer.

Image: wimbledonconcerthall.co.uk