KEY POINTS:
When an Auckland-based acoustics firm was shortlisted to work on the concept design of a concert hall in Paris, all did not initially go according to plan.
Marshall Day Acoustics was chosen to work with Architects Jean Nouvel on the new 2400-seat auditorium. The New Zealanders are on a short list of six teams to design the new auditorium in a design competition which closes on March 16.
Chris Day said the French architect Jean Nouvel was admitted to hospital a day before he and Hamish Marshall arrived in Paris.
"It wasn't all beer and skittles - or coffee and croissants," Day said. Nouvel needed a back operation and the design process "ambled for a couple of days" but eventually got into full swing.
The project is part of the Cite de la Musique, a special music precinct at the sound end of the Parc de la Villette, the city's largest park.
The project is being funded by the Ministry of Culture and the city and has a budget of €220 million ($409 million).
Philharmonie de Paris is the client.
Day said the New Zealand firm was chosen for its acoustic work in China, the United States, Oman, Hong Kong, Malaysia, here and in Australia.
The six teams working on the project will be paid $500,000 each to prepare concept design submissions including drawings and a video or computer animated design showing a "fly-through" of the auditorium.
