Auditorio El Arsenal

Metz’s historical centre is the heart of a powerful city, strongly structured by a combination of streets, avenues, and malls. Its architecture is rich and full of historical references: the 19^th century has a strong presence, and the city is marked by the strength and austerity of military architecture.

The basic idea of the project is the simple, intelligent, and cultured transformation of a military construction into a public building destined to accommodate musical performance.

RBTA had to respect the building’s history and character, without fearing its transformation into a more elegant and functional structure. We tried to restrain its strict, monumental appearance by changing certain elements based on the example of classical urban architecture, as exemplified by the city’s covered market. The harmony of this building, designed by the architect Jacques-François Blondel, stems from the quality of its materials (including ochre stone from Jaumont), its refined scale and rhythm, and the precise proportions of its volume.

Thus, the Taller worked to reduce the dimensions of the building’s excessively steep roofs so they became more harmonious with the project. The overall volume was transformed so the enclosed archetype became a U-shaped archetype, like an open public space. And, finally, work on the façades was carried out with the care needed for their preservation and the aim of improving the quality of materials and respecting the architectural language, as well as the rhythm of the openings.

The concert hall is the central and essential function of the music complex. Given the city’s musical tradition, we thought it was important to design a hall that could serve broader functions as well. Thus, the parti, or guiding idea of the design, was to place the hall in the centre of the U and its servant spaces in the body of the building around the hall, with its distribution structured by a grid system.

This logic has driven us to a clear and simple volumetric framework: the public enter directly from Avenue Ney into the great entrance hall, which provides direct access to the concert hall, restaurant, administration areas, and exhibition halls on the upper level.

The central position of the main hall creates a high, transparent plaza which communicates with the building’s first floor and external spaces. This well-proportioned building is connected to the citadel via «ramps» of grand stairways, in the style of Michelangelo.