Architectural Spotlight

DETAIL Project of the Month — June 2009

L’Autre Canal Concert Hall in Nancy

Architects: Périphériques, Paris
Structural engineers: Ingerco, Paris

“L’autre Canal” (The Other Channel) is the name that has been given to this concert hall for young people. Not only ear-splitting rock concerts take place here (earplugs are available free of charge at the entrance), but also dance performances, disco and chanson evenings. The motivation for the construction of the hall was the Scène de Musique actuelles (SMAC), a programme drawn up by the French Ministry of Culture and the Arts with the aim of consolidating the network of cultural facilities offered in particular to young people. In recent years, concert halls of a similar calibre have been created in Brest, Caen, Saint-Étienne and Rouen. In most cases, they were built on disused industrial sites with good public transport connections.

For some years now in Nancy, too, a 19th-century industrial area in the north-east of the city close to the centre has been undergoing a process of urban revitalization. Plans exist to develop housing, commercial buildings and a faculty of architecture here. For that reason, acoustic screening played a major role in the concept for the concert hall. The architects responded to this by designing a compact, soundproof bunker that would attract attention from afar with rows of offset fluorescent tubes along the facade. Screened off acoustically, the building nevertheless opens itself visually to the surroundings, revealing its special content.

This was accomplished by creating a “fil rouge” — a common thread — that runs through the entire building and that manifests itself on the four facades as well. The entrance also glows bright red like a wide-open mouth, drawing visitors into a foyer designed in the same colour and containing seating for a bar and cafe. In combination with the monochrome coloration, the curved transitions between wall and ceiling, between the floor and fixed installations conjure associations of the slaughterhouse that once stood on this site. The organic, red forms are strikingly contrasted with the hard edges of the cool exposed concrete, which is evident not only in the facade, but in the corridors on the upper level. Located here are a restuarant, offices, rehearsal spaces and artists’ dressing rooms.

A distinguishing feature of the two concert halls is the use of dark expanded metal laid over acoustic panels and reinforced concrete. Movable stages and rows of seating that can be lowered below floor level allow a wide range of uses and the accommodation of audiences of different sizes. One special feature of this project, however, is that musicians — whether soloists or bands, amateurs or professionals — can hire rehearsal spaces for very little money. Fitted out with musical instruments, mixing desks and recording equipment, these provide the standard of a professional recording studio.

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This article is an excerpt from DETAIL — Review of Architecture

   

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RicciGreene Associates

Led by a diverse group composed of Kenneth Ricci, FAIA, President, and Frank Greene, FAIA, Rob Fisch, AICP, and April Pottorff, Principals, RCD accessArchitecture participants RicciGreene Associates have built a successful and widely recognized practice focusing on programming, planning and design for courthouses, urban detention, and justice facilities throughout the country. Founded in 1988, the firm has three offices, located in New York, Providence, RI, and Lexington, KY, including a full-service staff comprised of architects, planners, interior designers and technical support personnel with recognized expertise in the field of justice planning and design.

Through the years, Mr. Greene and Mr. Ricci have also been active lecturers and have authored a number of articles and books related to the study and practice of justice facility design, with an emphasis on the emerging discipline of Sustainable Justice. Together they founded and chaired the AIA NY Chapter Committee on Architecture for Justice and Mr. Greene serves on the Advisory Group of the AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice. Mr. Ricci is a lecturer at AIA conferences, as well as for the National Institute of Corrections. Ms. Pottorff is the chair of the 2009 AIA AAJ Conference, Beyond the Horizon, the Next Generation of Justice.

Most recently, RicciGreene Associates won a Merit Award from the New Jersey AIA for their design of the Union County Juvenile Detention Center, in Linden, NJ. The building includes a 16-bed housing unit, with dining room, classrooms and administration, utilizing glass-walled corridors to achieve security while allowing daylight to penetrate the facility. The AIA jury noted that the design demonstrates an “optimism that belies the building typology.” The RicciGreene design was selected for the 2009 Justice Facility Review of the AIA AAJ, and was awarded a Citation for Design Excellence.

To visit RicciGreene Associates, Click here