design & décor
Image © Nicolas Buisson
and 18 meters deep. The stage
The seating plan is organized into
height beneath the spot racks is 20
three sections: a 543-seat front
meters high with an extra volume
orchestra section, a front balcony
below the stage floor. Three stage
with 245 seats and a rear balcony
light racks beam down from above
with 213, totalling 1,001 seats. The
the stage ceiling. The orchestra pit
central front orchestra section is split
is in the forefront, on the right of
into two halves with, seats in the
the retractable first five rows, to fit
wings at the back and on the sides,
an orchestra of 60 musicians. The
to follow the balconies’ curves. The
front stage is 19 meters wide and
auditorium’s interior design creates
9.5 meters high. Mobile panels form
a closer relationship between the
a diaphragm that can downsize the
audience and the stage. The design
structure to 12 meters by 7 meters.
of the side lodges and seating plan in
Sound and lighting is controlled
the wings creates a continuous flow,
from the technical booth located at
which plays down the distance to the
the back of the space at stall level,
back of the auditorium.
and is linked to the entire stagecraft equipment.
A smaller adjustable auditorium can host smaller performances. Its
The auditorium’s acoustic was
layout adapts to different seating
developed by acoustician Albert
plans: a front stage facing a floor
Xu, who had already worked in
of 144 seats; a circular seating plan
partnership with AS.ARCHITECTURE-
surrounding the central modular
STUDIO on the Onassis Cultural
stage or an open stage to do
Center in Athens. The acoustics
rehearsals. The room is equipped
were studied for live shows with no
with a technical ceiling grid
sound system support. To ensure
covering the entire surface as well as
good quality acoustics for each
the control booth so as to host
type of disposition, sliding curtains
all types of performance. Behind
located in the middle ground and
the stage are four individual
made up of wood panelled shutters,
dressing-rooms, four shared
which can customize the quality of
dressing-rooms for four and two
the auditorium’s acoustics to the
group dressing-rooms, offering
room’s acoustic properties to each
performers and artists the best
type of performance.
conditions to prepare.
28 www.timberdesignandtechnology.com | October 2014
Project Details Architects AS.ARCHITECTURE-STUDIO Civil Engineers SETEC BATIMENT Local engineering consultant ATKINS Stage design THEATER PROJECTS CONSULTANTS Acoustics XU ACOUSTIQUE Bespoke joinery Al Yusuf (Bahrain) Seating capacity Main auditorium 1,001 + 150 seats in smaller auditorium Surface area 10,370 sqm Budget 31 million euros Date of completion November 2012 Photo credit Nicolas Buisson Copyright ADAGP