Perpignan / Théâtre de l’Archipel: the “babybel” takes water from everywhere!
Umpteenth incident and rebound in L’Archipel theater of Perpignan: a sealing problem that could put aside, in part, the next cultural season of the famous cultural site
(photos @ Frédéric Vennarecci – courtesy of the City of Perpignan)
It had to be – according to theEX, Jean-Paul Alduy, former mayor-senator of Perpignan and co-founder of the Urban community Perpignan Méditerranée Communauté d’Agglomeration / PMCA – the cultural beacon of Northern Catalonia, the cultural landmark of Roussillon, the Eiffel Tower of Perpignan… Today, the L’Archipel theater accumulate setbacks and adventures. And over the years, the addition promises to be particularly salty.
To date, the results of the functioning of what remains, seen from the outside, an architectural feat unanimously recognized, admired – and also controversial – is not pretty, it is unfortunately clear:
First, there are the Spaniards, who have never come, or almost, because so few in number, to attend the various shows, which are often given in the Catalan language. Jean-Paul Alduy, who during his various mandates lost the north to favor only the south (we can see what this gives today with the TGV), had bet heavily on the Barcelona clientele, going as far as (almost) “Archipellier” the proud Catalan capital in its virtual territorial ambitions, definitely abandoning the other so-called clientele ” Proximity “ namely Toulouse and Montpellier, touristically speaking. The observation is rather bitter.
Then, there is now the unease expressed by the site’s employees, which has encountered day-to-day difficulties in the performance of professional tasks; employees who would be stressed by an increasingly demanding management, or even “Inhuman” in its social approach.
Then, always, there is a governance that is pitching – visualized from the outside in any case and through articles published in the local media -, and whose next board of directors (scheduled for November) promises to to be stormy, restless, to say the least.
Finally, we learn that serious sealing problems now affect the structure of the “Babybel” – thus nicknamed by public opinion in Perpignan – without the technical failures detected being able to be generally identified.
Only downside in what looks more and more to a “Fiasco” : the building would still be covered by the ten-year guarantee of the builder’s insurance (the Ets. Fondéville). Phew!
LM
The famous “babybel” that only the rain nibbles!