Powered by solar panels, La Seine Musicale is a new icon for Paris
Designed by Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines, Paris’ new music venue La Seine Musicale has now opened to the public on Île Seguin. A new icon of the 21st century and a gateway to west Paris, the building had to be bold of course, something to rival the Eiffel Tower or the Centre Pompidou, yet it also had to meet contemporary environmental concerns and respond to how the public use and enjoy leisure space today.
The most striking feature of La Seine Musicale is the egg-shaped auditorium made of glass and a lattice of timber laminate from a woven spruce wood and accessorised with a dynamic 800 sq m sail of photovoltaic cells, which shields this core from direct sunlight. This agile and entirely solar-powered form is mounted on rails and follows the path of the sun at 15 minute intervals as it progresses, supplying the auditorium with energy.
Inside the auditorium – designed for non-amplified music – there is a warm and organic atmosphere, a contrast to the technology-inspired futuristic outer-shell. Designed to bring audiences closer to musicians, a gentle terrace of seating holds a capacity of 1,150 people. Small tubular pieces of wood, cardboard, and paper tubes were assembled and applied across the ceilings to improve acoustics. As well as this iconic auditorium, La Seine Musicale includes a modular concert hall seating 4,000–6,000, nearly a hectare of roof top garden, the Riffx recording and rehearsal studios as well as space for a resident orchestra.
One of the aims of the architects was to create a public building that would express permeability between interior to exterior space, allowing people to filter naturally through the whole site. This porous quality, rooted in traditional Japanese architecture, was defined through the Grand Lobby, a covered ‘street’ that progresses through the heart of La Seine Musicale and out the other side. This was a route planned by Jean Nouvel, when he set out his masterplan for the Île Seguin in 2010 – a complex task for the long and narrow 2.35 hectare site.
Positioned on the route to Versailles, the slim slice of land has a fascinating history however, once owned by Louis XV who acquired it as a playground for his daughters and as a pit stop for weary aristocrats. Later sold to a laundry company, it then became state property after the French Revolution. After changing hands several times, Louis Renault claimed it for his first factory, opened in 1929 and demolished in 2005, leaving the island up for grabs. After a few false starts, one notably from François Pinault, the Ville de Boulogne-Billancourt initiated a plan for an island of culture that would be master planned by Nouvel.
Other sites on the island are slowly being populated by art galleries and cultural venues. Watch this space, but don’t hold your breath – next scheduled to complete in 2021 is the S17 contemporary art gallery and S18 hotel designed by Baumschlager Eberle from developer Emerige.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the La Seine Musicale website
ADDRESS
La Seine Musicale
1 Cours de l'Île Seguin
92100 Boulogne-Billancourt
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
Inside Palazzo Versace Macau’s mosaic-rich extravaganza
Palazzo Versace Macau, the brand’s first hotel in Asia, continues to preserve Donatella Versace’s swanky hospitality vision
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Paolo Roversi’s poetic, timeless fashion photography celebrated in Paris exhibition
’Paolo Roversi’ at Paris’ Palais Galliera is the first large-scale exhibition of the seminal fashion photographer’s work in his home city. Curator Sylvie Lécallier tells Wallpaper* the story behind the landmark display
By Jack Moss Published
-
Molly Goddard on creating a community of contemporary brides
As new Molly Goddard bridal wear is released, the designer talks about creating romantic but real wedding dresses, while three recent brides tell the stories behind their own Goddard gowns
By Jack Moss Published
-
Dip into the Paris pools and swimming culture enriching the 2024 Olympic Games
Paris pools, in the Olympics and beyond, have inspired fun, wellness and a love of sports in the French capital
By Ellen Himelfarb Published
-
Jean Prouvé’s House of Better Days on show at Galerie Patrick Seguin in Paris
The Maison Les Jours Meilleurs, or House of Better Days, by Jean Prouvé is explored in a new show at Galerie Patrick Seguin in Paris
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
Hauser & Wirth Paris by Laplace is a winning restoration in the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2024
Hauser & Wirth Paris by Laplace sees the architectural agency named Best Restoration Kings, breathing new life into an 1877 hôtel particulier near the Champs-Elysées
By Amy Serafin Published
-
A fire station cuts a bold figure in the city of Rennes
This fire station by LAN becomes a new landmark for Rennes, France
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A refreshed Musée National de la Marine shows off its expanded exhibition spaces in France
Musée National de la Marine in France has been brought to the 21st century by a team comprising h2o Architectes, Snøhetta and exhibition designers Casson Mann
By Clare Dowdy Published
-
Studio Mumbai exhibition at Fondation Cartier explores craft, architecture and ‘making space’
A Studio Mumbai exhibition at Paris’ Fondation Cartier explores the trailblazing Indian practice’s inspired, hands-on approach
By Amy Serafin Published
-
AT Architectes has built a striking house in the heart of a French pine forest
Maison Au Tholonet by AT Architectes is a crisp concrete house set on a wooded site in the South of France, carefully built on the foundations of a ruin
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Richard Rogers exhibition delves into the architect’s ideas at Chateau La Coste
A new Richard Rogers exhibition created by Ab Rogers opens at the late architect’s final design, the Drawing Gallery at Chateau La Coste in France
By Ellie Stathaki Published