Concert hall & theatre complex, Ternes, Paris

La Nouvelle Scène was sup­po­sed to be a sin­gu­lar shape on the urban land­scape in Porte Maillot. An undu­la­ting, white, vapo­rous mono­lith, orga­ni­zed around a green cen­ter, its façade of fine alu­mi­num blades, fol­ding back like a cur­tain in a thea­ter, in front of a mas­sive urban stage on which the concert hall stands. This fine metal­lic exter­nal skin is in constant vibra­tion under the chan­ging light of the Paris region, enabling the buil­ding to stand out on an urban land­scape that is de-struc­tu­red by the Paris ring-road and domi­na­ted by the Palais des Congrès and the Hyatt Regency tower. La Nouvelle Scène de Paris was to pro­vide the city with a new public space. Naturally acces­sible via the large steps, plan­ted with gree­nery, the piazza is the exten­sion through our buil­ding of the Bernard Lafay Promenade. So, at the same time, it is a bridge, a plan­ted gar­den with tall trees, entrance to the concert hall and res­tau­rant space. Open and plea­sant, it pro­vides this part of town with a lively atmos­phere tho­rough out the day. Seeking to use this attrac­tive space to enable people to expe­rience the joys of living in a city, there is also the desire to make up for the draw­backs the­reof. The large num­ber of trees and clim­bing plants, cho­sen for their aes­the­tic qua­li­ties as well as for their depol­lu­ting pro­per­ties, play an active role in impro­ving the qua­lity of the air in this dif­fi­cult urban envi­ron­ment.