Musée d'Art de Nantes

Status: 2013
Location: Nantes, France

Client: Ville de Nantes
Value: €49.0m

 

"These are not only additional square metres, but a distinct cultural action. With this Musée d'Art we are inventing something that has not been done before. Experiment, dare, propose. To make it live!"Jean-Louis Jossic, joint culture delegate of the Ville de Nantes

 

In Autumn 2009, Stanton Williams won an international competition to transform the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes, one of the leading regional galleries in France. The museum will be comprehensively renovated, while an adjacent site will house a new 5800m² extension for the display of twenty-first century art, as well as administrative and curatorial facilities and an external sculpture court. It will be known upon completion as the Musée d’Art de Nantes.

The design strategy creates an architectural and cultural promenade whilst also improving the relationship between the museum and its setting. Visitors will begin their journey in a series of improved public spaces around the museum, with sculptural installations taking the museum into the street.

Visual connections will be created between the refurbished galleries of the original museum, drawing visitors through the spaces.

The new building responds to its context through its materials and scale. Above a marble plinth, marmarino plaster is used to create a smooth effect akin to that of the local stone, resulting in a monolithic quality and a sense that the building has been carved from a single block of stone. Large openings provide glimpses into the galleries from the street, animating the museum’s setting. Reflecting local practice, a consistent materials palette is used inside and out. The result will be a building which defines a new image for the museum, yet is firmly rooted in its surroundings.

 

Credits
Cost Consultant: Sodeg
Structural & Envelope Engineer: RFR
Services Engineer: Max Fordham & GEFI
Fire Safety: Casso & Associés
Signage/Graphics: Cartlidge Levene
CDM Coordinator: Ouest Coordination
OPC: ECB