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Concert Hall in Limoges
Irvine Valley College Performing Arts Center
Jackson Hole Center for the Arts Performing Arts Pavilion
Peoria Center for the Performing Arts
The Manon Caine Russell and Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall
Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and Samueli Theater
Sidney Harman Hall - Harman Center for the Arts
Studzinski Recital Hall and Kanbar Auditorium
Tempe Center for the Arts
'62 Center for Theatre and Dance
Young Centre for the Performing Arts Concert Hall in Limoges
Bernard Tschumi Architects comes up with a green solution to the series of auditoriums for pop music sponsored by the government.
There are 15 “Zénith” concert halls in France. Financed jointly by the French government (Ministry of Culture) and the regions concerned, all have a capacity for at least 3,000 persons and are intended for rock concerts and other forms of amplified popular music. The first facility of this type was designed by the French architects Chaix & Morel in the Parc de la Villette in Paris (1984), where Bernard Tschumi, AIA, designed the park’s grounds and his signature red “follies” (1983–98). Tschumi, who has offices in New York and Paris, completed a Zénith in Rouen seven years ago [RECORD, June 2001, page 102]. Then he won a competition in late 2003 for the hall in Limoges, a city of 140,000 and the administrative capital of the Limousin region.
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Occupying a forested site just outside the city center, the Zénith has something of the dynamic wrapping form created by the architect in the steel-and-concrete Rouen building. But in this instance, the main construction materials are Douglas fir, concrete, and rigid polycarbonate sheeting. The siting, design, and materials of the building link distinctly to its HQE (Haute Qualité Environnementale, or Environmental High Quality) rating. The client particularly wanted to use wood associated with its forest location and the presence of the timber industry in the region. In addition, wood would introduce a certain warmth into the building, which includes a flexible hall intended to accommodate between 600 and 8,000 spectators.
Inserted into a natural slope, the concert hall sits at the end of a 1,500-car, 7-acre parking lot that resembles nothing so much as a green field planted with 300 young trees. Working with the noted garden designer Michel Desvignes, Tschumi used a layered gravel-and-earth system based on volcanic stone from the nearby Puy-de-Dôme region, which assures the necessary stability for parking while allowing grass to grow.
Formal name of project:
Concert Hall in Limoges
Location: City of Limoges, France
Gross square footage: 110,000 sq. ft.
Total construction cost: $30.6 million
Owner:
City of Limoges, France
Architect:
Bernard Tschumi Architects,
227 West 17th Street New York, NY 10011
Tel : 212.807.6340
Fax : 212.242.3693
www.tschumi.com
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