Paris
Ateliers Jean Nouvel

At a curve in the Seine, Ateliers Jean Nouvel erects a bold, multifaceted, and unexpected ensemble for the Musée du Quai Branly 

	Photo: © Roland Halbe

By Joann Gonchar, AIA

A museum that disappears into its surroundings would seem an unlikely goal for a high-profile project, designed by a world-renowned architect, on a prime piece of Parisian real estate. But, in a letter that accompanied his winning competition entry for a new institution devoted to the display of non-Western art, architect Jean Nouvel described his proposal as a “sacred wood” where “material form seems to melt away, giving the impression [of] a sanctuary without walls.”

This seemingly modest vision belies the controversy that surrounded the $266 million grand projet almost from the moment it was announced by President Jacques Chirac in 1996. Creation of the museum, eventually named the Musée du Quai Branly after the Left Bank boulevard that borders one edge of the site, would require that two respected French museums give up their collections. The project sparked heated debate among curators, anthropologists, and art historians about how best to present items as diverse as a mask from New Guinea, a Nepalese bronze Buddha, or a terra-cotta jar from Central America.

The 823,000-square-foot museum, despite the architect’s stated aim, is anything but a background building: It possesses Nouvel’s characteristically bold forms, but with a diversity and abundance not displayed in any one of his earlier projects. Quai Branly is a collection of interconnected, parallel low-rise structures that seem to emerge from the back of a group of Haussmann-era apartment buildings defining the site’s western edge. The largest and most impressive is a 700-by-100-foot, bridgelike exhibition space that curves in plan to mimic the bend in the nearby Seine. It is supported by seemingly randomly placed piloti and several concrete-enclosed “silos” that camouflage vertical circulation elements and mechanical equipment. Nearly 30 cantilevered boxes of various sizes containing small exhibition spaces and clad in earth-toned resin panels, protrude almost haphazardly from the building’s north facade.

Three smaller structures, housing functions like administration, conservation, and the gift shop, each have their own exterior expression. The most unexpected is the 8,600-square-foot vertical garden that gives one face of the so-called Branly building, at the northwest corner of the site, the appearance of a furry animal. But even the most prosaic of materials are treated as an opportunity for articulation.

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the People Architect Ateliers Jean Nouvel—Jean Nouvel, Françoise Raynaud, Didier Brault, Isabelle Guillauic www.jeannouvel.com Consultants Engineers: Ingerop (structural) www.ingerop.com OTH (m/e/p) Landscape: Atelier Acanthe—Gilles Clément; Patrick Blanc (vertical garden) Lighting: AIK—Yann Kersalé (lighting) Contracting authority: Etablissement Public du Musée du Quai Branly

the Products Sources Foundations: Intafor Spie Fondations Structural work, waterproofing: Bouygues www.bouygues-construction.com Projecting box facades: Trespa www.trespa.com Display lighting: Cegelec www.cegelec.com Vitrines: Unifor Elevators: Otis www.otis.com Blinds and shades: FMD Painting: Debuschère www.debuschere.fr/ Auditorium seating: Quinette Gallay www.quinette.fr