Jean Nouvel loses court battle against Philharmonie de Paris over alleged design ‘sabotage’

French architect Jean Nouvel lost a court battle on Thursday against developers of the $418 million Philharmonie de Paris concert hall in the French capital’s Parc de La Vilette, The Telegraph reports.

Documents from the French court show that Nouvel accused project managers of cutting corners to save money during the hall’s completion. Nouvel boycotted the January opening of the Philharmonie de Paris and asked for his name to be removed from all references to the work.

Nouvel said changes were required on the hall’s parapets, foyers, façades, the promenade, and acoustic elements. But the courts said that Nouvel was not able to provide sufficient evidence and documentation to prove this.

The “premature” completion resulted in a display of “contempt for architecture, for the profession and for the architect of the most important French cultural program of the new century,” The Telegraph reports Nouvel saying.

The Telegraph has the full story.

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