Behold Germany's answer to the Sydney Opera House

It's been dubbed the project of the decade and also the new Sydney Opera House. Finally, the Elbphilharmonie​, in Hamburg, Germany, has opened to the public, six years late and 10 times the original budget – but who's counting?

Hamburg's new concert hall (it's been nicknamed the Elphie - if that makes it easier to remember) has got it all: public plazas, rooftop views and even a Westin hotel tucked in there, which seems to have been lost in all the astonishment about its cutting-edge architecture.

To read more about Hamburg's applaud-winning concert hall, click here for my piece in the Sydney Morning Herald/The Age newspapers' Traveller sections.