The project of the Paris Philharmonic by Jean Nouvel

While last week the completion of the still-delayed construction of the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie by H&deM was officially celebrated in Hamburg, the Paris Philharmonic project is currently on track with both its timeline and budget. Just three years ago, Jean Nouvel won the international competition with his design, and so far everything suggests that the construction could be completed by 2012.
The Philharmonie de Paris, resembling crumpled sheet music, will be located on the edge of Parc de la Villette, in close proximity to Cité de la Musique and the Cite des Sciences technical museum. On a two-hectare site, in addition to the main hall for 2,400 listeners, there will also be another 20,000 m² of space for music rehearsal rooms and classrooms, costing around 200 million Euro.
The main hall of the Paris Philharmonic uses the same principle as Scharoun's Berlin Philharmonic, where the audience does not sit facing the musicians but surrounds them from all sides. To accurately test all acoustic conditions, Japanese engineers from Nagata Acoustics created a wooden model at a scale of 1:10. For sound tests, the model must be perfectly sealed, filled with nitrogen, and populated with puppets of audience members. The wooden model was produced by the Ackermann carpentry workshop from Wiesbronn, which has many years of experience with similar constructions and created the acoustic model of the concert hall in Hamburg a few years ago.