IRCAM

About

IRCAM (French: Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique; English: "Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music") is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of avant garde and electro-acoustical art music. It is situated next to, and is organisationally linked with, the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The original building, designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, lay almost entirely underground beneath the square and fountain of Place Igor-Stravinsky. The above-ground "Piano tower" was added in 1990 by Renzo Piano alone, and two adjacent buildings, the former Jules Ferry school and the Bains-Douches baths, were converted in 1996.