Location: Paris, France.

Architect: Architecturestudio.

The Maison de la Radio was programmed for its 40th anniversary in 2003 and was transformed into a 1461-seat symphony hall in November 2014. The Grand Auditorium, designed by AS.Architecture-Studio, is a new international symphony hall in Paris. It is a “music-centred” hall with a vertical volume where balconies are superimposed. The walls are broken down into many facets, bringing attention back to the centre. Several timber species are used in the moulding composition of the different planes.

The Maison de la Radio has been redesigned to accommodate the public and offer numerous concerts and festivals. To ensure outstanding acoustics, AS.Architecture-Studio enlisted the skills of acoustics engineer Yasu Toyota of Nagata Acoustics. The stage is composed of 18 modular lift tables able to accommodate 120 musicians and adapt to various orchestra configurations. The auditorium is fitted out for sound and video recording of all concerts in different configurations. To connect the centre of the building to its periphery, AS.Architecture-Studio located in the centre of the building a unifying, common space: the agora.

The agora connects to the existing grand hall by a new circulation artery. The Maison de la Radio has been transformed into a 700-place underground car park, Studio 104 – Olivier Messiaen Hall, and a 700-place underground car park. Studio 104 is a versatile concert hall designed to accommodate all types of music, and the tower has been converted into large workspaces. Production and broadcasting studios have been designed as “boxes within the box” for acoustic purposes.

Photo credit: Luc Boegly.