Acoustics shape design of copper-clad concert hall in Evian

French studio PCA-Stream has completed La Source Vive, a domed copper-clad concert hall in Évian, France, designed “as a musical instrument”.

Nestled into a sloping woodland site overlooking Lake Geneva, La Source Vive is a 490-seat chamber music hall situated next to Patrick Bouchain’s existing 1993 concert hall La Grange au Lac.

Designed to complement the existing venue, La Source Vive provides a dedicated space for chamber music rehearsals, performances and recordings, while the restored 1,000-seat timber hall La Grange au Lac continues to host large-scale orchestral performances.

Together, the two halls form part of Les Mélèzes, a cultural complex encompassing music and performing arts, founded by French philanthropist Aline Foriel-Destezet.

Achieving high-quality acoustics was the central idea guiding the design of La Source Vive, influencing decisions about the building’s geometry and material palette.

Philippe Chiambaretti and Patrick Bouchain worked alongside acoustician Albert Xu to “design the building as a musical instrument”, exploring how its form, materials and finishes could influence sound quality.

The design process involved acoustic sketches, digital modelling, simulations and repeated on-site testing during construction.

PCA-Stream also developed a digital twin of the project to monitor and refine the hall’s acoustic behaviour at different stages.

La Source Vive is set across three volumes – a glazed foyer, the domed concert hall and a separate backstage building containing dressing rooms.

By positioning the project within an existing clearing, the architects aimed to minimise the impact on the woodland site, while enhancing biodiversity through planting more than 150 trees and 200 shrubs alongside landscape studio Coloco.

Linking the old and new halls, the glazed foyer was rebuilt and expanded to include a bar, ticketing area and timber terrace. Rainwater collected beneath the terrace is reused to irrigate the surrounding landscape.

From the foyer, visitors pass through a rock-cut passage before entering a lobby that opens onto the auditorium.

Housed within a domed “partially-buried shell”, the concert hall is clad with pre-patinated copper tiles which catch and reflect light, and are designed to weather over time to blend into the surrounding woodland.

Structurally, the concert hall is formed of an acoustic concrete shell wrapped with a second timber frame beneath the copper roof.

Inside, the 490-seat auditorium combines elements of the rectangular “shoebox” concert hall with the more contemporary “vineyard” model, placing audiences on terraced seating around the performers.

The studio opted for a pared-back material palette of concrete, raw plaster, timber and leather throughout.

Curved plaster walls are sculpted with undulating grooves that project up to eight centimetres at audience level, helping to diffuse and reflect sound. Above the stage, a bespoke aluminium canopy was designed to further optimise acoustics.

Solid rose beech timber beams were used for the stage backdrop and flooring, while custom-made dusty orange leather benches are arranged asymmetrically around the stage to create a closer relationship between audience and performers.

An oculus in the ceiling draws natural light inside, fitted with a blackout screen that allows the space to be darkened when required.

Alongside chamber-music performances, La Source Vive accommodates theatre, dance and literary readings, as well as a recording studio space. There are also spaces for workshops, exhibitions and lectures.

A separate volume upslope from the concert hall contains dressing rooms and backstage facilities. Clad in larch and clapboard, its base is made from recycled stone. Elsewhere, stone from the nearby Meillerie quarry was also used for landscaped rockwork.

Other concert halls recently featured on Dezeen include a University of Oxford performing arts centre set around a four-storey atrium by Hopkins Architects and a trio of rectangular red-brick music buildings for MIT by SANAA.

The photography is by Salem Mostefaoui.

La Source Vive founder: Aline Foriel-Destezet
Artistic director: Patrick Bouchain
Acoustic consultant: Albert Xu
Acoustic engineering: Meta
Lead architect: Philippe Chiambaretta, PCA-Stream
Architects: Sébastien Truchot, Francesco Cazzola, PCA-Stream
Structure and facade engineering: Bollinger + Grohmann
Lighting: Atelier de l’éclairage
Landscape architect: Coloco

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