The Maurice Ravel Auditorium is a concert hall located in

Part-Dieu La Part-Dieu () is a quarter in the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon, France. It is the second-largest tertiary district in France, after La Défense in Greater Paris. The area also contains Lyon's primary railway station, La Part-Dieu. This urb ...

, the 3rd district of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. It was originally built for the National Orchestra of Lyon and is their residence hall. It is also one of the first buildings in France to be built with

prestressed concrete Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially prestressed (Compression (physics), compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. Post-t ...

Acoustics

The building was built without an acoustic study which resulted in the volume being too low for symphonic purposes, with a reflective concave back wall. The stage had no lateral walls, which resulted in the musicians struggling to hear one another. The wall was eventually treated to prevent strong echoes. Eventually a Phillips acoustic enhancement system was fitted to help with sound coverage and reverberation.

The organ

In 1878 the renowned French organ builder,

Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (; 4 February 1811 – 13 October 1899) was a French organ builder. He has the reputation of being the most distinguished organ builder of the 19th century. He pioneered innovations in the art and science of organ build ...

, was commissioned to build a concert organ for the Trocadéro concert hall, under the supervision of renowned organist and composer Alexandre Guilmant. Because of the time constraints of the contract he did not have time to build one from scratch and had to use an uncompleted three-manual organ originally intended for the Church of Notre Dame in Auteuil, a district in the northwestern area of Paris, as the basis for the new instrument. The organ moved to the

Palais de Chaillot The Palais de Chaillot () is a building at the top of the in the Trocadéro area in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Design The building was designed in classicising " moderne" style by architects Louis-Hippolyte Boileau, Jacques ...

when the Trocadéro was demolished and was ultimately bought by the government of Lyon for the Auditorium.

References

{{Authority control 1975 establishments in France Brutalist architecture in France Concert halls in France Music venues completed in 1975