La Friche la Belle de Mai, a former tobacco factory converted into a cultural third place, inaugurated this month a new live music venue in Marseille: the Petit Cab. This space for performance and creation will host concerts, residencies, immersive performances, media projects, and experiments throughout the year.
We are proud to announce that the Petit Cab is now the first live music venue in Europe whose stage equipment is fully self-sufficient and powered by solar energy thanks to a Pikip Solar Speakers installation.
A self-sufficient live music venue powered by solar energy
We were invited to design an autonomous, solar-powered installation for this first opening weekend. Fully designed and built by our team, it embodies the core goals of the BISOU cooperation (A.M.I, Bi:Pole, Cabaret Aléatoire, Radio Grenouille – Euphonia, and the Friche la Belle de Mai cooperative society), which runs the Petit Cab project: implementing a concrete ecological transition and imagining spaces that are more autonomous and responsible. Two strong commitments that lie at the heart of the Pikip Solar Speakers project.
15 solar panels were installed on the roof of La Friche la Belle de Mai, located in the 3rd district of Marseille. They are connected to three of our SE 10000 energy stations, each providing 10.2 kWh of autonomy and 10 kVA of power. These stations power all of the venue’s stage equipment: lighting, sound, and control booth.
Discover the PikiP Energy range
Each station is mobile and autonomous: a flexibility that allows for any type of setup, indoors or outdoors. And to ensure uninterrupted power, an intelligent system automatically switches to the grid when needed.
Acoustic power and immersive experience
With a capacity of 350 people, the Petit Cab is 100% equipped with PikiP sound systems, designed in our Marseille workshop. For the occasion, products from the Stage LT range were combined with a few new releases.
Six VCH30 constant curvature loudspeakers are suspended in the venue to ensure even coverage: equipped with a multi-entry conical-exponential horn, they cover a frequency range of 85–18,000 Hz with constant directivity. They are paired with our new VTL218 hybrid subwoofers with dual resonators, placed on the floor in front of the stage. Finally, on stage, six VCX12 full-range coaxial loudspeakers provide precise monitoring for the artists.
Discover the PikiP Acoustics range
The entire installation runs on the 16 channels of four autonomous PikiP amplifiers, battery-patented. The result: power, precision, and total immersion for the audience — a live experience in its purest form.
Photos © : Isis Mecheraf (1,3), @funklavie (2)
