This project is for a music hall complex including a 4,000 seat multi-purpose hall, a 1,150 seat classical music hall and a school of music, located on Seguin Island in the western suburbs of Paris. As described in Jean Nouvel's master plan for the island, a concrete wall defines the perimeter of the site along the water's edge. Set within this wall is a large multi-purpose hall which is surrounded by a lush green landscape. As the perimeter wall eventually diminishes towards the leading edge of the site, the hexagonal wooden grid shell structure of the classical music hall emerges. Surrounding the grid shell structure is a large triangular solar panel mobile sail. The sail's ability to follow the path of the sun, allows for increased efficiency of the solar panels as well as providing a solar shield for the lobby behind. This environmentally friendly sail will ultimately become a new identity for the complex. It is expected to become a new symbol as the western gate into Paris.

It is an island in the middle of the Seine–the centre of the region–the beating heart of the Vallée de la Culture in Hauts- de-Seine. With La Seine Musicale, Seguin Island has become its beacon.

Beyond the metaphor, it is also a reality.

Firstly, the name: La Seine Musicale. It links music, an art that touches our souls and brings them together at each concert, to the river that shapes our region, and carries us well beyond it. The name calls to mind both its local foundation and its international outreach. The name speaks to us all. There is also the architecture, recognizable and remarkable, created by Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines, who have admirably ful lled the wish of the Department and its partners to offer a place that is both ambitious and welcoming.

Last but not least, it is a cultural facility that is opening its doors: a place for live performance, emotions, and leisure, which also provides space to talented artists in residence (Laurence Equilbey and Insula Orchestra, Gaël Darchen and La Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine, Philippe Jaroussky and his Académie Musicale).

A place for life, where the extraordinary meets the everyday: the auditorium, the modular main hall, the garden, the unen- closed boutiques, and the numerous venues for musicians including spaces for ensembles in residence, rehearsal studios and the like...

Whether novice, curious passer-by, artist, initiate, adult, child, enthusiast or professional, everyone can meet and share their emotions at La Seine Musicale.

In order to see the light of day, the La Seine Musicale project needed to bring together skill, commitment, and ambition. It is rstly thanks to the support of the City of Boulogne-Billancourt and its mayor, Pierre-Christophe Baguet.

Music, song, applause, pregnant pauses, children’s laughter... La Seine Musicale is ready to receive its audiences and to resonate with a thousand sounds.

Located in western Paris, Seine Musicale is a music hall complex including a 4,000 seat multi-purpose hall, a 1,150 seat classical musical hall and a school of music. From a concrete perimeter wall that diminishes towards the leading edge of the site, the striking hexagonal wooden grid shell structure of the classical music hall emerges. Timber contractor Hess Timber engaged Design-to-Production to digitally model this complex, doubly curved timber structure and additionally advise on the assembly sequence.

The resulting 3D CAD model details the raw and final geometries of the almost 1,300 doubly curved timber pieces that make up the shell. From the model, gluing and machining data for all segments, solid models for the 3,300 facade subconstruction elements and a full set of individual workshop drawings and assembly plans were derived.

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The 1,100 seats auditorium of La Seine Musicale is the main element of Shigeru Ban’s architectural project. Design-to-Production was commissioned by timber contractor Hess Timber to digitally model the doubly curved timber structure spanning around the egg-shaped building and took an active part in the conception of the assembly sequence for the complex structure.

Design-to-Production implemented a fully parametric 3D-CAD-model detailed up to the last screw and containing both the raw and final geometries of the almost 1,300 doubly curved timber pieces. From this model both gluing and machining data for all segments, solid models for the 3,300 façade subconstruction elements and a full set of individual workshop drawings and assembly plans were derived.

Like a precious gem, this cultural center with concert halls at the point of an island in the middle of the Seine River southwest of Paris verita­bly glows, a glass filigree ball on a long, ship-like base. A special project that also turned into something special for ewo. The building, which opened in 2017, was designed by the Japanese Pritzker Prize winner Shigeru Ban, who had already placed higher and higher demands upon the simplic­ity and aesthet­ics of construc­tion. For the illumi­na­tion of the exterior space, the client and the architect therefore also had very concrete desires: the housing of the spotlights was to remain invisi­ble by daylight to the greatest degree possible, and at night, the light was to unleash its disembod­ied magic.

A complex challenge which at ewo immedi­ately unleashed the inventive spirit. Completely in keeping with the tried and true lines of ewoIndi­vid­ual, the design­ers and engineers developed a totally new solution: a product that was not yet found on the market was transformed and modified in such a way that it precisely fulfilled the client’s wishes. The luminaire was built in at a correspond­ingly high position in order to illumi­nate the entire area. An additional challenge: making the housing disappear in the construc­tion did not allow any cantilever arms, which required early design that was precise down to the millime­ter, since upon instal­la­tion, no additional adjust­ments were possible.