Architect Jean Nouvel’s new concert hall, in the outskirts of Paris, is a breathtaking behemoth of a building. Located in the 19th arrondissement, the Philharmonie de Paris is a massive and sprawling complex, all aluminum swirls and sci-fi angles soaring into the sky. It’s a powerful sight, and that awe doesn’t diminish once you step inside either: the auditorium features sweeping undulating curves and a cavernous 2,400 seat interior.

But there’s an intimacy to the Philharmonie, too — it begins the second the music starts. As reviewer after reviewer has noted, the acoustics are crisp, clear and precise. You’re enveloped by the sounds. “The idea is that the audience will be in the middle of the music,” Nouvel once explained. It helps that he chose a “vineyard” design for the main hall; as opposed to the traditional shoebox layout, this style — also used in Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles — incorporates multilevel balconies and tiers that gently spill down toward the stage, not unlike the sloping terraces of a vineyard. Here, the farthest seat from the conductor is just 105 feet (versus 155 feet at Salle Pleyel, the previous Parisian classical concert go-to).

Eight years in the making, Nouvel’s Philharmonie is more than just a home for the Paris orchestra and concerts of varying genres (from jazz to pop). There are family weekend events, an in-house Music Museum, and workshops on the Caribbean steel drums and string quartets. The big David Bowie Is exhibit from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum just ended a run there; later this year, you can catch one on artist Marc Chagall and the impact of music on his work. The underage set, meanwhile, can take part in a whole roster of classes and activitis — Carmen singalongs and beatbox 101, anyone?