Location: Villeneuve d’Ascq, France.

Architect: Manuelle Gautrand Architecture.

The project concerns the refurbishment and extension of the Lille Modern Art Museum in Villeneuve d’Ascq. The existing building, designed by Roland Simounet in 1983, is already on the Historic monuments list. The project aims to build up the museum as a continuous and fluid entity by adding new galleries dedicated to a collection of Art Brut works. The architecture of the extension wraps around the north and east sides of the existing arrangement in a fan-splay of long, fluid and organic volumes. At the extremity of the folds, a large bay opens magnificent views onto the surrounding parkland, adding breathing space to the visit itinerary. The envelopes are sober and smooth untreated concrete, with mouldings and openwork screens to protect the bays from too much daylight. The most important details in this text are that the author is inspired by the context around a project, and that the first considerations when approaching a project are about the context, but also about the functionalities. The author also discusses the importance of green design and sustainability, and how to implement it in a contextual way. The author also discusses the unique challenges associated with working on an already designed building, such as the Modern Art Museum in Lille, where the existing building was listed and the Monumental Authorities asked for a separate new building without any link to the existing one. The author chose to respect the listed building but envelop it to create a continuous promenade through the three forms of art. Working on a museum asked the question of the link between architecture and art, and how to balance innovative design with functional building. Innovation is not formal, but a question of how to use and live the architecture.

Photo credit: Max Lerouge.