Located in the heart of Munich, the heart of the New Gasteig is the Kulturbühne or Culture Stage - a bridge-like glass volume that connects the centre’s many functions displays their interiors to the city. 

Each component of the building - the Philharmonic, the Carl Orff Hall, the Munich City Library, the Munich Centre of Further Education and the University of Music and Performing Arts - has undergone its own transformation. 

In collaboration with the renowned acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, the Philharmonic was given a complete acoustic re-design, while the library, constructed during the height of print media, was updated for the digital age, its closed-off, silent spaces were opened up and its collaborative spaces emphasized. The Culture Stage now functions as circulation, foyer, exhibition space and event area.

The centre receives around two million visitors a year.