Lecture on professional practice at ENSA Paris-Belleville 18/02/2025

Our social responsibility is also expressed through active participation in the training of our future colleagues within the framework of the educational activities organised in schools of architecture: confrontation and the sharing of experience constitute, all the more so thanks to the freedom of expression guaranteed in academia, an opportunity for cultural enrichment.

We thus took part in the training activities organised by ENSA Paris-Belleville through a lecture-debate entitled “The position of the architect in cultural projects for performance venues”, which engaged the active and interested participation of many students from all year groups.

This exchange focused on the role and responsibilities of the architect in the specific intervention context of the construction and renovation of performance halls integrated within different types of cultural facilities, both public and private.

After a brief presentation of the intervention context, introducing a review of public cultural institutions at the national scale and, more particularly, public and private theatres and performance halls in Paris, attention then turned to the main roles of the architect in the process of designing and delivering performance venues and related facilities.

The precise and coherent definition of needs and requirements by the client, possibly supported by specialised advisory services (programming consultants, client assistance consultants), established jointly with the end user, who plays an active role in defining the specific objectives, constitutes the first essential step in the construction process.

The choice of how the project management team is appointed is also fundamental: the models used by the client must be selected consistently with the intervention context and taking into account the intended outcomes; in particular, the design-build contract model. This model presents both advantages and disadvantages, which influence professional practice and may, if not properly managed, heavily condition the very act of building.

Close consultation between architects and reviewing authorities, established from the earliest design orientations, guarantees the coherence of the project in all its aspects as well as the smooth handling of authorisation procedures. In the same way, effective collaboration between the different engineering disciplines contributing to the design and execution of the work ensures an overall quality that is all the higher when the lead architect masters the general and specific objectives, as well as the technical synthesis of the various areas of expertise brought together around them.

The presentation of three case studies, chosen because of their differences (private/public commission, objectives, scale, budgets, technical complexity), and the debate that followed, enabled the students to explore professional practice in detail, as well as to reflect on the values and principles that form its ethical foundations.