The city of Bonn, after serving as the German Capital for many years, aspires to further define its identity and character. With this comes the remembrance of the city's most famous son, Ludwig van Beethoven. This notion is supported through sponsoring by the three Bonn-based DAX corporations: Deutsche Post AG, Deutsche Telekom AG and Postbank AG. The Beethovelhalle, designed by Siegfried Wolske in 1959, is rooted deep in the collective awareness of Bonn's citizens. The historic concert hall is, however, no longer adequate in regards to modern acoustic standards. The decision of whether to conserve the concert hall or to come up with a new building solution was at the liberty of the architects; however, the choice of tearing down the existing hall would have to be validly justified. The new concert hall features a park area on the Rhine shore which aims to expand Bonn's cultural zone along the banks of the Rhine River. Furthermore, the basis of the project is formed by certain legal guidelines, such as monumental preservation of the existing concert hall and a fixed building cost budget. AS+P, serving as advisors and procedural coordinators, elaborated a sensible and clear selection process, suitable for the complex demands at hand. Furthermore, an unusually detailed building description as well as an exact cost calculation was requested. Obscurities and misunderstandings were to be avoided through additional com­mu­ni­ca­tion opportunities. Two ‘brain trusts' - comparable in terms of their homogeneity of demands placed on acoustics and architecture - had, after the two phases so far, advised on a total of ten solutions of the highest standard.