Concept drawing © Stephen Spence, associate partner and project architect at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

Poetically, the structure is a bridge into the French landscape, a rectangular steel frame cantilevering 88 feet out from a hillside, over trees and an old Roman road. Like the best of Rogers’ work, it is an artistic expression of engineering. At the entrance, two sets of steel tension rods act in unison to anchor the structure to the ground. These rods work in concert with two large pivot assemblies, which support the steel frame and, in turn, the open-ended room suspended within that frame.

The structure touches the ground at only four points. Beneath the ground, the cables and the pivots are connected by a link plate which is embedded within concrete foundations, anchored by numerous micropiles, up to 65 feet deep. “The tension rods and pivot assemblies work together, rather like a children’s see-saw, but balanced, allowing the structure to cantilever outward over the site,” says Michael Hasson, a specialist engineer who advised on the project.

It is a delicately poised structure. Within the bright orange steel frame, a rectangular room, 1,290 square feet in size, is suspended, culminating in a 16.5-foot by 13-foot opening and a terrace with a beautiful view. In the artistic, bucolic milieu of the Chateau La Coste, Rogers’ structure presupposes activity, both in the dynamism of its engineering and the way it frames the landscape for making art.

His final, elegant piece of architecture arrives as the one that made him famous undergoes a less-refined process. In January 2021, Serge Lasvignes, president of the Centre Pompidou made the surprise announcement that the arts center would have to close for three years so external corrosion could be addressed and asbestos removed from the interior.

Photo © Stéphane Aboudaram / We Are Contents(s)