Zénith de Saint-Étienne Métropole, multi-purpose hall in Saint-Étienne, France
The Zénith de Saint-Étienne Métropole is a large multi-purpose hall in Saint-Étienne, France, used for a wide range of events including concerts, theater, and performances. The interior features a spacious main hall with a large stage at one end, flexible seating or standing arrangements depending on the event, and bright, open architecture designed to ensure clear sight lines and sound quality for all attendees.
The first stone was laid on 14 September 2006 and the hall was inaugurated on 10 October 2008 in the presence of Johnny Hallyday, whose Tour 66 began here in May 2009. The first concerts followed on 12 October 2008 with the Saint-Étienne group Dub Inc, then Bernard Lavilliers the next day. In February 2011 Michel Sardou filmed his tour video Confidences et retrouvailles here.
The name Zénith comes from the French word for zenith, meaning a peak or summit of entertainment. The hall serves as a social gathering place where residents and visitors come together to share performances and create shared memories around live shows.
The hall sits in the Marais district near the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, on a 7-hectare site with 1,300 parking spaces and green areas. The main building covers 9,872 m², and the glazed facade rises over 25 m above a concrete base reached by wide stairs. The roof's long southern canopy shades the glass wall from the sun.
The roof is aluminium, shaped to catch the prevailing winds, and ends to the south in a long canopy that shades the glazed openings from the sun. At night, natural ventilation cools the hall using the thermal inertia of the concrete, which is why the acoustic treatment is fixed perpendicular to the walls rather than applied to them.
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