Jérôme Seydoux Pathé Foundation
París FR
Renzo Piano Building Workshop
2014
Type
Cultural
Tags
cultural facilities, science fiction vibes, infilled voids
Visitability
Allowed
Description
The art of inserting a new building into an historic city block means engaging in an open, physical dialogue with the existing city buildings. Building onto a structure also presents an opportunity for a wideranging renovation project, a reclaiming of space. The new headquarters of the Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé is an unexpected presence, a curved volume glimpsed floating in the middle of a courtyard, anchored on just a few supports. It is complimented by a group of birch trees, a floral island set in the dense mineral context of the city.The Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé is an organisation dedicated to the preservation of Pathé’s heritage, and to the promotion of cinematography. Its new headquarters sit at the centre of a block in Paris’ XIII arrondissement, where a mid-19th century theatre - transformed into one of Paris’ first cinemas in the mid-1900s, radically transformed again in the 1960s - once stood.The new building houses Pathé’s archives, exhibition spaces for temporary and permanent collections, a 70-seat screening room, and the Pathé Foundation’s offices. The project called for the demolition of the two existing buildings to create an organic shaped ‘creature’ that better responds to the restrictions of the site. The idea was to respond to the functional and representative programme requested by the Fondation, while at the same time increasing the quality of the space surrounding the new building. The facade on the avenue des Gobelins has been restored and preserved, for its historic and artistic value. Decorated with sculptures by a young Auguste Rodin, it is not only a historical landmark, but also an iconic building for the Gobelins area.(Description provided by the architects)