Work to expand the Musée de la Création franche, in the center of Bègles (Gironde) – the first dedicated to outsider art in France – began in September. The aim is to give it another scale and thus enable it to improve its reception and conservation conditions for works, to increase the exhibition spaces and to make it a real center of documentary resources.
For this, the metropolis and the City chose the Basalt Architecture agency, which has already worked in Bordeaux on the extension of the Natural History Museum. Three buildings will complete the Sire house, the historic reception area of the museum, around a central patio. For Vincent Laroëre, associate architect at Basalt, the challenge was twofold: “It was necessary to double the surface area, from 650 m2 to 1,500 m2, without touching the trees and without crushing the existing building. »
Mirror panels. The extensions will be built to the north of the park, the least vegetated and least luminous part, which is an advantage for summer comfort and the conservation of the works. The two buildings which will house the reserves and the auditorium, on R + 2, will have their ground floor semi-buried, almost 6 m, in order to reduce their height. The “museum in the countryside” spirit is thus preserved. The materiality of the new ensemble, a stone facing on a concrete structure, will also be dictated by the existing house.
Mirrored aluminum panels will be placed on certain facades on the patio side and will also punctuate the stone cladding. They will allow the vegetation to be reflected there and will liven up the places, the exteriors of which will be fitted out and used for the exhibition of works. The original house will also be modified, with the creation of a double volume and new partitions. In order to limit energy consumption, the client and his project management team chose to use geothermal energy for heating and cooling, thus dispensing with air conditioning.
The work should be completed in 2025. The investment of €13 million excluding tax is supported by Bordeaux Métropole, the City of Bègles, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and the State.
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