Centre for Fine Arts Adding Removable Seating to Henry Le Bœuf Great Hall

The Centre for Fine Arts is reconfiguring the stalls of the Henry Le Bœuf Great Hall by replacing the current seats with removable seating.

The idea is to create an adjustable space which will enable artists to use part or all of the stalls during their performances and give the audience a more dynamic experience during concerts, DJ sets and big shows.

This renovation, which will encourage proximity and interaction between artists and public, begins in November 2017. The works will be staggered as the seats are successively replaced by groups of rows with no influence on the programmed concerts. Everything will be completed by May 2018. As a consequence, some seats that are being refitted will be replaced by temporary seating in the course of the coming months. BOZAR has of course worked on temporary solutions that would cause as little discomfort as possible to the audience.

Since its inauguration in 1929, there have been four generations of seats in the Henry Le Bœuf Great Hall.

In 1999, the 1976 seats were replaced by a model inspired by seats designed by Victor Horta in 1929.

Almost 20 years later, the Centre for Fine Arts has decided to renovate the seats in the stalls, with the backing of Beliris and our responsible Minister, Mr Didier Reynders.

The works have been entrusted to Fibrocit, the company which made the seats for the hall in the 1920s, and again back in 1999.

The wood and velvet will be refurbished, but a major improvement is also on the agenda. This will enable us to use the Henry Le Bœuf Great Hall in completely new configurations: the seats will be fitted with a system which makes them mobile, thus freeing up part or all of the stalls. Our artistic programmers will make the most of this innovative way of managing the space available by devising unexpected and astounding concert configurations. The hall will be adapted to suit the diversity of BOZAR's musical events (classical, jazz, world, electro and hip-hop) and, more particularly, its festive and dance concerts.

Photo © J Latteur

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