Disappearing Act: SANAA's Louvre-Lens
Louvre-Lens, a luminous outpost of the venerable Paris museum, opened in mid-December in the northern French town of Lens. The architect SANAA teamed up with Imrey Culbert and then Adrien Gard're for exhibition design, and with Catherine Mosbach for landscape. The result is a series of evanescent, one-story glass-and-aluminum pavilions delicately displaying masterpieces of art.
Photo © Iwan Baan
SANAA's meandering rectilinear spaces, 300,000 square feet for seven pavilions, occupy a 49-acre brownfield site in the former mining town of Lens. The intriguing landscape design, seen in the west courtyard, is surfaced in concrete that looks like melting snow. Circular holes planted with moss alternate with swaths of grass and trees.
Photo © Iwan Baan
The square entrance hall contains circular glass enclosures for services such as information and ticketing, a bookshop, and a caf'. A stair wrapping around a glass elevator connects to a subterranean study center and storage area.
Photo © Iwan Baan
The main Galerie du Temps , a shedlike space 393 feet long, chronologically presents selected Louvre masterpieces, such as Delacroix's 1830 Liberty Leading the People (seen at rear).
Photo © Iwan Baan
Gently curved walls of polished aluminum in the Galerie du Temps enhance reflectivity in an ethereal setting where daylight is modulated by half-inch-thick louvers suspended from the ceiling. Visitors circulate around freestanding installations (such as the ancient Greek kouros in the foreground).
Photo © Iwan Baan
Photo © Iwan Baan
Photo © Iwan Baan
Photo © Iwan Baan
Photo © Iwan Baan
Photo © Iwan Baan
Photo © Iwan Baan
Photo © Iwan Baan
Photo © Iwan Baan
Photo © Iwan Baan
Architects & Firms
Louvre-Lens, a luminous outpost of the venerable Paris museum, opened in mid-December in the northern French town of Lens. The architect SANAA teamed up with Imrey Culbert and then Adrien Gardère for exhibition design, and with Catherine Mosbach for landscape. The result is a series of evanescent, one-story glass-and-aluminum pavilions delicately displaying masterpieces of art.
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