Auditorium de Bordeaux by Michel Pétuaud-Létang
Since 2008, Michel Pétuaud-Létang and his team at the practice 4A have been working on the Auditorium de Bordeaux. It opened its doors in early 2013, to the great delight of music lovers. A bold project, it provides a vital urban driver in the very heart of the city of Bordeaux.
It is this desire for centrality that Michel Pétuaud-Létang was after, for "putting back into the city centre the elements that are essential to its role makes for a responsible, ecological project that supports the built heritage". The idea here is to restructure the city upon itself.
Making use of all the existing networks, with utilities and transport links that are ecologically remarkable and architecturally well integrated, the Auditorium keeps all its promises. A colossal building site, delivered at an exceptionally low cost:
€27 million excluding VAT, all-inclusive, covering the land, the many service connections, the fees and all the technical options. The auditorium as a whole extends over 6,868 m² across five levels. To achieve excellent acoustics, it has no physical contact with the other parts of the complex, which called for technical feats and exceptional means.
Besides the essential circulation spaces and foyers, the auditorium comprises a main hall of 1,440 seats, a 300-seat hall, two small halls, rehearsal rooms and offices.
The main hall is unique of its kind. It has a 160 m² orchestra pit, the largest in Europe, able to hold 100 musicians. In short, so-called classical music, offered to all, will reawaken the dreams we had stored away in the attic of our hopes.
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