![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_1.jpg)
Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes
Paris firm Moussafir Architectes have blanketed the roof of this concert hall in Tours, France, with a synthetic material that looks like a quilt.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_2.jpg)
Above: photograph is by Luc Boegly
Named Le Temps Machine, which translates as The Time Machine, the venue contains two auditoriums that burst up through its roof, one displaying a glowing digital clock.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_1.jpg)
Above: photograph is by Benoît Faure
The glazed facade and entrance are sheltered beneath a canopy of projecting eaves.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_8.jpg)
The walls of the remaining elevations are exposed concrete, as are those in the corridors of the building.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_7.jpg)
We've featured quite a few concert halls on Dezeen. You can see them all here.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_12.jpg)
Photography is by Jérôme Ricolleau, apart from where otherwise stated.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_10.jpg)
Here's some extra information from Moussafir Architectes:
‘Le Temps Machine’, Concert Venue, Joue-Les-Tours, France
The former Joué-lès-Tours youth centre was a blocky, opaque, inward-looking building that failed to interact with the surrounding public space and no longer met current standards and requirements. The architectural design for the new music facility responds to a three-fold objective: to open the building up to its surroundings, to improve the way the opaque block integrates with existing buildings, and emphasise the festive dimension of the facility by making a unique architectural statement.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_9.jpg)
Above: photograph is by Luc Boegly
We chose to situate the new building where the old one stood, and to reinterpret some of the latter’s salient features (such as its prow-shaped auditorium) while offering the space a radically new image by opening it up to its context.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_13.jpg)
With its generously glazed street-side entrance, the building’s exterior features deep projecting eaves and a strongly cantilevered auditorium providing both an impression of lightness and a sense of hospitality vis-a-vis the public space and dwellings nearby.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_15.jpg)
To improve its contextual integration, we have divided the structure into two parts functioning in different registers: a determinedly horizontal 2m50 tall concrete and glass base housing a fluid, open interior space, and a roof with the three main components of the design brief (the two performance areas and the resource centre) bursting through it like opaque excrescences.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_14.jpg)
This duality is emphasised by the use of contrasting materials: hard on the inside (raw concrete, glass, stainless steel) and soft on the outside (membrane stretched over exterior insulation materials).
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_16.jpg)
With its complex volumetrics and textured outer surface, the new building stands out like a beacon in the urban landscape.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_17.jpg)
The contradictory image we were aiming at is one of a unique yet familiar object that is challenging and yet invites appropriation: a sculptural design that refers to nothing that already exists, but which users can easily engage with, both in functional and symbolic terms.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_18.jpg)
Client: TOUR(S) PLUS (Tours City Council)
Address: 49, rue des Martyrs, 37300 JOUE-LES-TOURS
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_6.jpg)
Above: photograph is by Benoît Faure
Brief: Concert facility to replace the existing youth centre, including a concert space for a standing audience of 650, a 150-seat cabaret-style space, a resources centre, and 3 rehearsal studios with service areas.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_19.gif)
Materials: Colourwashed raw concrete, solvent- and plastics-free FPO roofing membrane by Sika Sarnafil, glazed stainless steel, Fibracoustic panels of wood fibre and rockwool, door/windowframes aluminium (exterior), steel and wood (interior).
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_20.gif)
Budget: 5,300,000 €. ex tax.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_21.gif)
NSA: 1,753 sq m.
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_22.gif)
Architects: Jacques Moussafir avec Nicolas Hugoo, Alexis Duquennoy, Narumi Kang, Sofie Reynaert, Jérôme Hervé and Virginie Prié
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_23.gif)
Partner engineers: A&T (stage designers), Ayda (acoustic designers), Batiserf (structural engineers), LBE (mechanical engineers), Bureau Michel Forgue (quantity surveyor).
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_24.gif)
Contractors: DV Construction (general contractor), AMG Féchoz (stage machinery), Bideau (stage electrics), VTI (wooden stage flooring), Edmond Petit (stage fabrics).
![Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes Le Temps Machine by Moussafir Architectes](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/04/Dezeen_Le-Temps-Machine-by-Moussafir-Architectes_25.gif)