Opéra Bastille

The opera Bastille is a modern opera Hall located on the place de la Bastille in Paris. It was designed by Carlos Ott and inaugurated in 1989 at the time of the bicentenary festivities of the Revolution as part of major works for Paris. It's one of the two rooms constituting the Paris Opera with the opera Garnier.

With its 2 703 seating, the great Hall of the opera Bastille is one of the largest in the world in terms of capacity. In comparison, the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House can accommodate 2 679 people seated and 1 720 for the Bolshoi Theater. And it's more than 2/3 of the Metropolitan Opera of New York and its 3 800 squares.

History

The construction decision

President François Mitterrand decided in 1982 to build a new opera in Paris in order to unload the Opera Garnier. He wants an opera "modern and popular. For the needs of times, the Public Establishment Opera - Bastille (EPOB) was created in 1983.

The Location of the Paris-Bastille Station, is between the Lyon street and Charenton street and at the place de la Bastille, was chosen. Work began in 1984 with the demolition of the station of Paris-Bastille, opened in 1859 and closed on the 14^th of December 1969. It was used until it was demolished for various exhibitions.

The architectural competition

A contest to designate the architect of this new opera was launched in 1983 and it was Carlos Ott, a Uruguayan and Canadian architect who won it on the 17^th of November 1983.

The beginnings of the opera

The Bastille opera was inaugurated on the 13^th of July 1989, for the bicentenary celebrations of the Bastille Day, with a set show staged by Bob Wilson, the night before the day, but the regular performances did not begin until the 17^th of March 1990, with the Troyens of Berlioz.

In 1993, the public institution Opera - Bastille (EPOB) was dissolved. The following year, the Bastille Opera became the Paris Opera and became a public industrial establishment and commercial character (EPIC). The first years of operation room was marked by persistent difficulties in the automated management of the stage machinery, a frequent failure in the new theatres which however caused several scandals in Paris. Work without closing the theater helped to reach a satisfactory operation of all the equipment.

The deterioration of the façade

In addition, the State engaged in a trial for defect in 1991 against the contractors because of the very rapid deterioration of the building facade. A slab fell in 1990 and had required the installation of 5,000 m² of safety nets for 530 000 euros. A polemic, numerous audits and studies will make it last for many years the determination of wrongs, the part of the insurers and the financial amounts as studies will reveal new problems. However, the only stone that fell was glued and unattached. The urgency of delivery to be ready for the bicentenary of the revolution has led to costly shortcuts for the rest. The State will eventually win this long trial in 2007: the builders were ordered to pay EUR 9 million for the replacement of the 36 000 90 cm × 90 cm limestone slabs. Since the Studies were carried out in 2005-2006, the work began in the summer of 2007 and lasted for 2 years.

With the obsolescence due to the time, the building’s requirement for standards updates, including fire, will require 12 million euros

In the year 2016, the Paris Opera receives 60 million EUR for the construction of a modular room for rehearsals, which can accommodate 800 spectators. 1 400 m² location exist from the beginning but the work was continually delayed. In addition, a new storage place and a construction site will be constructed on the abandoned land an area left fallow. The work is expected to be completed in the year 2022-2023. The space released on this occasion to the Berthier workshops, where the Opera had a rehearsal room, a workshop for the paintings of grand format, storage for costumes and accessories and a decorative repair area, will create a city theatre, in the image of the city of music in the Park de la Villette.

Loacation

The Location benefits

The location provides a double advantage, both symbolic and practical.

• The situation near the old Bastille benefits from the history of the place and the image it conveys.

• Moreover, the location situation meets the practical requirements. On the other hand, the accessibility of the site, served by 3 metro lines, 8 bus lines, and Lyon station located less than a kilometer away. Thus, in less than an hour, 5 300 000 people can reach it. On the other hand, the Opéra Bastille enjoys its central location in Paris, at the intersection of the 11th and the 12th arrondissement.

Immediate environment

In the North, the main entrance of the Opera looks at the place de la Bastille, and the July column placed its Center.

On the other hand, the Southern face is in continuity with the ophthalmological hospital of  Quinze-Vingts.

In the West, the opera is open onto the Lyon opera street, which gradually diverges from the Arsenal basin towards the South.

In the East, finally, the building is adjacent to the Charenton Street, here in a single direction.

The Field

The available land, with an area of 2.5 hectares, has the form of a quadrangle, oriented on a South-East-north-West axis.

Before the construction of the Opera House, 3 buildings occupied it:

• The Bastille Station
• A building housing the Tour D'Argent restaurant, already present at the time of the demolition of the Bastille fortress.
• The Paramount Cinema (overlooking the place de la Bastille and attached to the Tour D'Argent)

3 construction, only the second has been preserved. Today it houses an opera studio, and a restaurant, Les Grandes Marches.

The Accommodation Capacity

The building has an area of 155 000 m², the opera Bastille can accommodate approximately 4,000 people in the public space.

• Large room of 2 745 seats.
• 450- Amphitheater seat.
• 237 Studio seats.
• Liebermann Hall: this modular planned Hall of 300 to 1,200 seats, especially for the creation of contemporary works, has never been realized. The space provided was partially transformed into rehearsal hall for the Orchestra in 2005. A modular room is to be built there in 2022.   

Organization

The work Organization of the technical platform is of the project type. The Technical teams are structured by sight, from the creation to the storage of the sets and costumes.

The Completeness of the trades represented in opera contributes to a large number of teams, and so employees, approximately 51 bodies represented in a single structure.

The operating cost of the opera Bastille is 122 M€ in 2015, funded to 48% by the public subsidies, the remainder from show ticketing, halls, rental and sponsorship.

Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op%C3%A9ra_Bastille