Dufour Pavilion Renovation
París FR
Dominique Perrault
2016
Type
Cultural
Tags
renovations, spaces for tourism, heritage sites interventions
Visitability
Allowed
Description
The construction of the Dufour pavilion in the Château de Versailles, decided by Louis Philippe at the beginning of the 19th century, balances the general composition of the palace and its facade towards Versailles, forming a symmetrical counterpoint with the Gabriel pavilion. Although its original purpose was to provide a direct access to the royal apartments, by means of a scenographic development, the pavilion has been occupied for a long time by various auxiliary uses, mainly at the service of the administration.In 2011 Dominique Perrault won the competition for the refurbishment of the pavilion. The project proposes a new enclosure to receive around five million visitors per year. The place will be at the same time the point of entry and exit of the visit to the palace, to which will be joined a large cafe and an auditorium. Our proposal attempts to establish a marker in the visitor's journey and in the chronology of the place, characterized by its permanent unfinished state, without forgetting their patrimonial context of great value.This work has been carried out in close collaboration with Frédéric Didier, chief architect of Historical Monuments, and has allowed for several spaces to be revealed that until now were abandoned, such as, for example, the exedras of the council room or the cisterns associated with the kitchens. (Description provided by the architects)