There have been several proposals concerning what to do with the architecturally important Memorial Coliseum in the Rose Quarter, including tearing it down to make way for a minor league baseball stadium and building a state of the art velodrome inside its gossamer shell. I’ve always mentioned to anyone that would listen that it would make a great outer shell for a concert hall. Since the outer, square, glass shell is self supporting without any internal pillars, it would be relatively easy to build an acoustically isolated inner concert hall structure, and having an outer, weather protected area that could be used for dining and other incidental uses for concert hall patrons. A similar concept is the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, which has a huge, Quonset hut-like glass structure that encases the inner performing halls (a main concert hall and a smaller chamber music hall).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23537504@N00/ / CC BY 2.0
I don’t think this is such a crazy idea, and it would be a wonderful space in which to place a concert hall. Parking facilities would already be in place, there’s a major confluence of mass transit options to reach the area, and it could be a real showcase venue for the city. What do you think?