Inauguration of IRCAM’s Espace de projection
- Client
- IRCAM — Centre Pompidou
- Location
- Paris, France
- Sectors
- Land & building development
Ambition
Celebrate the reopening to the public of the Espace de projection hall at IRCAM, the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music.
Mission
Make the most of the characteristics of IRCAM’s Espace de projection and its infinitely modular and adjustable acoustics to present a live performance by Jean-Michel JARRE: (more)OXYMORE and its own specially created prologue.
With OXYMORE, Jean-Michel JARRE presents for the first time an album conceived and composed in multichannel and binaural sound, and mixed in 360 audio in Radio France’s “Innovation” studios.
Strategy
Inaugurated in 1978 and closed for renovation since 2011, IRCAM’s Espace de projection is every bit as legendary as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw or Milan’s La Scala.
What sets “l’Espro” (as insiders call it) apart: its acoustics and scenography can be modified at will. The ceilings can be raised or lowered (from 1.50 m to 10.50 m) to vary the volume of the hall, and every wall is fitted with pivoting three-sided modules (absorbent, reflective and diffusing) known as periaktoi.
The hall’s average reverberation time can thus range from 0.4 seconds (the dry ambience of a recording studio) to more than 4 seconds (a “cathedral” ambience).
The Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music is today one of the largest public research centres in the world dedicated to musical creation and scientific research — a unique place where artistic vision meets scientific and technological innovation.
