The new concert hall plays a fundamental role in the long-term strategy to position Stavanger as an economic and cultural node in northern Europe. The Bilbao effect has become a new weapon in the arms race for global media attention. The demands on regional capitals to become catalysts of growth and development are increasing.  Rather than considering the new concert house as an isolated architectural object along the approach to Stavanger’s harbour front, we have chosen to mobilize the architecture in order to intensify the relationship between the concert house and the city around it. Therefore, the design calls for the concert house to be developed as an extension and enhancement of the movements and activities that already flow through the site. It will also act as a music park extending out to the water and service other numerous public gathering functions.