Zénith de Toulouse, Entertainment centre in Toulouse, France
The Zénith de Toulouse Métropole is a concert hall at 11 avenue Raymond-Badiou in the TOEC district, with a broad dark oval roof over a light grey curved facade on slender columns, a cylindrical glass entrance and a 3,000-space car park. Its 11,000 places are adjusted by movable curtains, with fixed stands for 1,500 to 5,000 and a stage up to 600 m².
Inaugurated on 17 April 1999, the hall was designed by architects André and Serge Gresy and built by SOTEC Ingénierie, with six 18-metre reinforced-concrete pillars carrying a steel frame of 90-metre spans. It remained France's largest Zénith until Strasbourg opened on 3 January 2008. In 2014 an addition of 2,000 places raised capacity to 11,000, and Stromae sold out the reopened hall on 23 and 24 October.
The venue takes its name from a French word referring to a cardinal direction and draws diverse audiences throughout the year. From concerts and sports events to ice shows, it serves as a gathering place for entertainment across many genres.
The tram (lines T1 and T2, Zénith stop) is the recommended way to arrive; driving can mean queues of up to 1.5 km. The 3,000-space car park, Toulouse's largest, is laid out along concentric landscaped alleys. For reduced mobility, 28 spaces sit closest to the entrance forecourt, with a priority access lane on the left facing the hall and two platforms of 12 wheelchair places each.
The Zénith appears briefly in the music video for "The Resistance" by the English band Muse, visible from the 8th to the 12th second and again from the 19th to the 22nd second. The building was modelled entirely in EIFFEL software, and its roof rests on six reinforced-concrete pillars 18 metres high carrying a steel frame with 90-metre beams.
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