During the last 10-15 years we have experienced a boom of cultural building projects in Northern Europe. In Oslo, Copenhagen and Reykjavik new opera houses and concert halls have been inaugurated and recently one in Helsinki in August 2011. The most spectacular and, indeed, the most expensive one, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, is under construction. Comparing these projects we can find some similarities, even an often repeated pattern in their pre- and post-construction-phase.