« Le Nouveau Siècle » philharmonic hall — Lille

"Heritage and acoustic renovation of the Nouveau-Siècle auditorium" — such was the brief of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais regional council's competition. Designed more than thirty years ago as a convention centre, the Nouveau Siècle building has since become the home of the Orchestre National de Lille.

As the 2,000-seat hall no longer offered acoustics suited to that purpose, the client decided to reconfigure it into an auditorium devoted primarily to symphonic music and, occasionally, to festive events. The works concentrated on building a new hall inside the existing volume, thereby solving the technical, safety and acoustic problems.

The hall/stage volume was entirely redrawn: ceiling, seat layout, technical walkways, motorized stands on the stage, a balcony for the choir, side public balconies and reception rooms. Inaugurated in 2014, the first phase allowed the restructuring of the hall, the creation of an acoustic shell with motorized orchestra stands and an enveloping gallery for choirs or audience, as well as the complete replacement of the stage equipment.