Photo Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
Despite major financial concerns, the Centre Pompidou announced the architects for its forthcoming five-year renovation project.
The museum, designed by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano in 1977, will be in the hands of Moreau Kusunoki, a French office founded by Nicolas Moreau and Hiroko Kusunoki, with Mexico City–based Frida Escobedo Studio as associate designer, the Architect’s Newspaper reported.
The firms won a competition to modernize the building at a cost of $280 million. The museum won’t reopen until 2030.
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Additionally, Moreau Kusunoki and Escobedo plan to collaborate with French engineering firm AIA Life Designers, and to consult Piano, who was also on the competition jury.
As part of the renovation, there will be ADA improvements to spaces like the library and rooftop, and asbestos removal, as well as added floor space and increased natural light. According to the museum, the structure has weathered significant damage since it was first built in the ’70s.
The renovation also includes the move of the Atelier Brancusi, the former studio of the modernist sculptor into “the heart of the main building,” according to the announcement, as well as a collection rehang.
As Paris’s top museum for Modern and contemporary art, the Centre Pompidou is known for its innovative steel and glass building, with its structural and HVAC systems visible from the exterior.
Outside of Paris, the Centre Pompidou has expanded to include such locations as Malaga in Spain, and Shanghai in China, as well as those coming soon, Jersey City in the United States and Seoul in South Korea.
