Grand Amphithéâtre, Palais des Congrès

The Grand Amphithéâtre inside the Palais des Congrès is defined by a massive, sloping ceiling that drops sharply toward the stage. Built in the nineteen seventies, this space replaced the old slaughterhouses of Vaugirard with a venue designed to host mass audiences. When the inaugural concert took place, the acoustics posed such a problem that musicians struggled to hear themselves. Engineers scrambled to install modular acoustic panels along the walls, permanently altering the interior geometry to force the sound to behave.