Skip to content

Audio Version

See more about

More info

Architects: Dominique Coulon & Associés
Location: Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France
Area: 3.346 m2
Year: 2022
Photography: Eugeni Pons

Contracting owner: Town of Montigny-le-Bretonneux [France]
Contract administration: Dominique Coulon & associés
Architects: Dominique Coulon, Steve Letho Duclos, David Romero-Uzeda, Diego Bastos Romero
Site supervision: Diego Bastos Romero
Perspectivist: Denis Labanq
Technical design – Structure: Batiserf Ingénierie
Technical design – Electricity: BET Gilbert Jost
Technical design – Fluids: Solares Bauen
Economist: E3 Économie
Acoustics and scenography: Euro Sound Project
Site scheduling, coordination and management: IPCS
Fire safety system: SSI Consulting
Assistant to contracting owner / Project planning engineer: CAP Urbain
Inspection agency and Coordinator for health and safety: Dekra Industrial
Program: 146-seat auditorium, classrooms, theatre rooms, dance studios, music creation studios, percussion room, recording studio.

Charles Aznavour Conservatory of Music, Drama and Dance

The building for the Conservatory of Music, Drama and Dance in the new town of Montigny-le-Bretonneux sits on a triangular site. It offers distant views of the famous apartment block Les Arcades du Lac built by Ricardo Bofill in 1985.

The compact building seems to turn toward the south to enjoy a better, right-angled view of the street. The structure seems to come apart to showcase the true size of its dance studio, which pivots to run parallel to the road. Different forms collide, reflecting the site’s geometry. These forms offer views of the town and clear sightlines into the interior.

The building’s envelope features transparent panes of reflective glazing and vertically striped surfaces that capture light. Their various textures appear side by side, which blurs the real scale of the building and endows the structure with an aura of strangeness and a wealth of interpretations. The enigmatic outline is suggestive of a cultural facility.

The building has four levels. It includes drama rooms, a large black-box theater, music rooms of different sizes, a recording studio, three dance studios with changing rooms, and an underground parking area. The spaces are laid out along an uneven axis that offers spacious areas for socializing while looking out at the town or toward the building’s main sections.

When you step into the entrance hall, you find yourself looking down at two tall basement spaces: the large theater and the double-height percussion room that offers views of the instruments below.

The hallways are characterized by contrasts: walls of exposed concrete are juxtaposed with shiny floors and ceilings. The spaces are dotted with large solid timber additions on all levels, giving the areas for gathering a welcoming atmosphere.

The cross-section helps understand the strong connection that is created between all these spaces. Three large skylights punctuate the ceiling, which becomes distorted to let in natural light from all sides. A monumental staircase rises through this atrium, unfolding diagonally and stretching up towards the light and the dance studios. The large panes of glass are coated in dichroic film. The colors change in accordance with the viewer’s position and the sun’s angle. The spaces are tied together by this giant kaleidoscope diffusing ever-changing colors.

 

Architects: Dominique Coulon & Associés
Location: Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France
Area: 3.346 m2
Year: 2022
Photography: Eugeni Pons

urbanNext (October 13, 2024) Charles Aznavour Conservatory of Music, Drama and Dance. Retrieved from https://urbannext.net/charles-aznavour-conservatory-of-music-drama-and-dance/.
Charles Aznavour Conservatory of Music, Drama and Dance.” urbanNext – October 13, 2024, https://urbannext.net/charles-aznavour-conservatory-of-music-drama-and-dance/
urbanNext December 22, 2023 Charles Aznavour Conservatory of Music, Drama and Dance., viewed October 13, 2024,<https://urbannext.net/charles-aznavour-conservatory-of-music-drama-and-dance/>
urbanNext – Charles Aznavour Conservatory of Music, Drama and Dance. [Internet]. [Accessed October 13, 2024]. Available from: https://urbannext.net/charles-aznavour-conservatory-of-music-drama-and-dance/
Charles Aznavour Conservatory of Music, Drama and Dance.” urbanNext – Accessed October 13, 2024. https://urbannext.net/charles-aznavour-conservatory-of-music-drama-and-dance/
Charles Aznavour Conservatory of Music, Drama and Dance.” urbanNext [Online]. Available: https://urbannext.net/charles-aznavour-conservatory-of-music-drama-and-dance/. [Accessed: October 13, 2024]

Related posts

Global Tags

urbanNext | expanding architecture to rethink cities and territories

Newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter

Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in excerpt
Formats
Audio&visual
Concept
Data
Essay
Forum
Lecture
Podcast
Project
Talk
Survey
Statement
Selfthink
High Density
Middle Density
Low Density
No Density

talk

essay

project

product

survey

data

all formats