Paris' new concert hall is radical in design, acoustics and location

Paris is known for its many Belle Epoque cultural landmarks - ornate museums, gilded theatres, the stately Eiffel Tower. But its brand-new concert hall that has just opened comes from a different era. The ultra-modern, multi-layered, crested structure, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel and planted in the northeast of the French capital, would not look out of place in a glittering, modern desert city such as Doha or Dubai.

The stage of its main, 2,400-seat concert hall is enveloped by the audience, with sweeping, curved balconies surrounding it on all sides, designed to give concertgoers both better views and acoustics.

This is La Philharmonie, Paris' new, bigger home for orchestral events. It's an ambitious bid to retain the city's standing in a world where emerging nations are increasingly building their own massive temples to culture.

"It's utterly right that Paris should have a big auditorium for classical music," says the director of the Paris Opera, Stephane Lissner.

The project took eight years and 386 million euros (HK$3.5 billion) to build - a budget blown out to three times its initial estimate by inflation, its inherent complexity and a desire to make it a lasting monument like the 37-year-old Pompidou Centre or the National Library (Bibliotheque Nationale, opened in 1996). Yet despite 600 workers toiling day and night to meet the government deadline, La Philharmonie is not entirely ready.

Nouvel says "several months" is needed for the final touches to be complete. But once they are, "it will be one of the most remarkable symphonic buildings existing". The main hall's acoustics were designed by two masters in the field: New Zealand's Harold Marshall and Japan's Yasuhisa Toyota.