Location: Paris, France.

Architect: Bruno Gaudin Architectes.

Atelier Buno Gaudin Architectes has completed a 15-year project to restructure and transform the Bibliothèque nationale de France Richelieu (the National Library). The building has been transformed to meet contemporary challenges, including welcoming the public, opening up to the city, and sharing and exchanging with younger generations. The overall architectural project management was carried out by L’atelier Gaudin architects, accompanied by EGIS, 8’18’’, and Casso. The special case of the listed areas was handled by Jean François Lagneau and Michel Trubert, chief architects of Historic Monuments, who restored the decor. The building now has a new identity, full of light, with an entrance to the Vivienne Garden, a vast through hall, and a new main staircase in the centre of the composition. The architectural intervention of the Gaudin agency concerns the whole of the Quadrilatère, and each room was the object of a project in itself. The creation of new horizontal and vertical distributions is also a major intervention of the project, which marks a fundamental change in the whole organisation of the building. In July 2007, the Atelier Gaudin was appointed as project manager for the «requalification of the Quadrilatère Richelieu – redeployment of the BnF’s specialist departments and installation of the libraries of the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA) and the École nationale des chartes (ENC)». This was the first time that the building could be analysed and taken in charge in its entirety by a single project manager.

Photo credit: Takuji Shimmura.