We know the names of the architects commissioned to imagine the Center Pompidou of 2030. The Franco-Japanese duo Nicolas Moreau and Hiroko Kusunoki were chosen to design the architectural project for the cultural establishment. This is the same agency that was appointed in 2015 to design the Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki (Finland). She is also the author of the central pavilion of the Sciences-Po Paris campus.
Alongside him, the Mexican Frida Escobedo will also be part of the cultural master plan project for the Parisian museum. The architect gained international attention when she was chosen in 2022 to renovate the modern art wing of the Met, a legendary museum in New York.
Intentions
Nicolas Moreau and Hiroko Kusunoki will work to reorganize spaces and reorganize functions.in a more rational and readable way“within the building, according to the Center Pompidou. The architects must respect”l’ADN” of the place and “the current architecture of the building”, designed by the Italian Renzo Piano and the British Richard Rogers, while rethinking “uses so that they better correspond to the needs of users and users“.
“We want to project the building into the future without adding a layer that would be anachronistic“, Nicolas Moreau told the press this Thursday, June 20, 2024. “What we wanted to do was develop a project that was both respectful of the building while having at heart “a concern for innovation“, explained the president of the museum, Laurent Le Bon.
Among the planned works, a “New Generation” center, “dedicated to relaxation, artistic practice and play functions” will be fitted out. The different exhibition spaces will be “reimagined” and presentation or exhibition spaces will be integrated into the Bpi (public information library), which has also been renovated. As for the large square facing the museum, called “La Piazza”, it will be redeveloped to house stands .A way to invite passers-by”to settle down“.
An XXL project at work
The Center Pompidou, which welcomes more than three million visitors each year, must close its doors in September 2025 for a long period of work, and reopen in 2030. Asbestos removal from the facades and renovation of the entire building, inaugurated in 1977 , will be carried out. People with reduced mobility will benefit from better accessibility. In addition, fire safety and energy optimization of the building are planned.
The estimated budget for this work is around 262 million euros, financed by the State. Through this project, the Center Pompidou wishes to create “a new major cultural project by reinventing the original utopia“, in order to “respond to the cultural, societal and environmental challenges of the coming years“.
In total, more than 80 applications were submitted in 2023 following the publication of the competition notice. An international jury chaired by Laurent Le Bon then pre-selected, in August of the same year, six teams.
