II. Architecture of the 21st century.

        
        However, this museum is not a simple modern cultural project. It is also a museum with an amazing architecture, which is completely new in the landscape of the museums of the Nord-pas-de-Calais.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5rLHNcs190)

The SANAA's project in 3D...

1)  The interaction with the site.

The organization of the building.

The Japanese Agency SANAA’s work begins with an appreciation of the site and the integration of its different components : its history, its topography, its urban environment, its climate, its light and its vegetation, all elements that help architects writing a scenario considering particularities of the site.

For this site, architects have fragmented the project in five main buildings of different shapes. Their disposal meets the route of the old "horsemen", on which mining convoys were routed. Thus deployed program focuses on horizontal constructions marrying perfectly with the surrounding frame consisting of old low miners houses. These movements, which emphasize the relief, establish, with the ground, more proximity, further enhanced by the light curves of the edges of the different blocks. These combination options create a building more natural and less artificial.

From a height of six metres, five buildings are finally connected to offer to visitors a pleasant continuity. The building is in total harmony with its plant environment according to Catherine Mosbach.

Extract from Beaux-arts éditions :

«  C’était une opportunité très rare de pouvoir travailler à une telle échelle, celle de 20 hectares de terrain. Or le projet n’est ni celui d’un parc urbain, ni celui d’un jardin de musée. Tout simplement parce que nous avons fait en sorte qu’il n’existe pas de limite entre architecture et paysage. L’architecture de SANAA joue sur une idée de transparence et de réflexion avec le paysage, dans son dispositif comme par le choix de façades en aluminium et verre. Le parc joue, pour sa part, sur une ambiguïté entre son caractère minéral et végétal. Il est donc un intermédiaire entre un site naturel et un site tenu par la main de l’homme » (Catherine Mosbach in Beaux-arts éditions, a special publication about Louvre-Lens, in December 2012).

The Glass pavilion.

The fully transparent glass pavilion is completely opened onto the park of the museum, with a perspective on the mythical Stadium of Lens and the twin dumps of Loos-en-Gohelle. The two mounds that are reminiscent of the mining past arise, two contemporary sculptures magnified by the surrounding landscape. Through this architecture of glass, it's with a new look that the visitor discovers on a natural heritage with an unexpected aesthetic.

It is a new museum that might be described as contemporary, by its architectural themes, and its unexpected structure, that is accessible to the public. Everything respect the urban environment and the natural site, so that the museum is not imposed but becomes an harmonious creation.

2) A museum on the move.

     The museum, in addition to play with the historical and natural topic, is playing with the movement and the atmospheric changes that surround the building. This is its originality and its interest.

Indeed, the museum becomes a non-static building in permanent movement owing to its formal variations and the arrangement of rooms. The organization of the museum gives to visitors a unique route. The Louvre-Lens is as a vast area of experiences : you can be a passionate admirer of masterpieces exposed, or simply a walker in the Park, for example.

A part of the entrance hall.

This desire to create a dynamic architecture is also based on the choice of materials. The glass and aluminium used here generate a range of sensations. Crystalline transparency of the facades distorts reflections of the walls of anodized aluminium. Each space lives to the rhythm of climate variability and changes thanks to the light. The project by SANAA is also to present different works with natural light, in a direct relationship with the brightness of the sky. It is not only an architectural choice but also a new look in scenography and its influence on masterpieces presentation.

Finally, we can mention the presence of videos on the glass walls that seem to be constantly in motion, as to create a presence in walls that would permit us to see the piece and not one elsewhere that represent these screenings.

In the end, the movement is a major element of the architectural project of two Japaneses, but this is not a movement invented. It is rather an ephemeral movement that the nature produces on the world. It is the contemporary face of this building.

3) Minimalism and transparency.

        To conclude this section on the architecture, this museum remains a project where minimalism is essential. You can realize that by simply walking for a few minutes in the Entrance hall and the Time gallery.

The ground floor.

This simple aesthetic developed by the Japanese duo is located at the crossroads between quest for the minimalism (transparency, clean lines) and looking for a new expressionism of the architecture, summoning several meanings of the visitor, such as the sight and touch. With the Louvre-Lens, it is a personal experience with the senses of architecture - a choice that would not deny Mies van der Rohe with his famous quotation of modernist "Less is more". 

Despite this choice, we still note the presence of many details as we have seen in the video of the prologue. The roof is very worked, as well as the of the beams supporting the building. Everything has been carefully thought and calculated. The rooms follow this directive.

I. A new project of gathering.

For the town itself, the setting up of the Louvre should be an economic driving force and, for the region, a vector of attractiveness. The museum is should also be prominently being on a hub of Europe. But in addition to tourists, the museum wants to attract local audience.

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20595943)

TRANSCRIPTION :

BBC news – "Louvre opens new wing in the north"

"" From the outside, the Louvre Lens looks chic and modern, it's walls of glass and metal, not unlike the famous Pyramid in Paris. But Lens is far less glossy than the French capital. It was home to coal mining, until the collapse of the Industry tore the heart out of the city, and caused massive unemployment. Even now it's sixteen per cent (16%), the number of people out of work is well above the national average. Transplanting a branch of the Louvre to the northern France was a bold decision, and at Tuesday’s inauguration François Hollande payed tribute to the former french president Jacques Chirac, who conceived the idea.

“I want to praise the decision of Jacques Chirac. This Art Centre owed it's existence to him. He was the first to imagine the Louvre outside of itself. He decided to place it here, in this old mining region.”

There is more than two hundred works on display. From iconic paintings to ancient sculptures and artefacts, dating from 3500 B.C to 1850.

“I think it was very important for the Louvre to be in a place where you didn't have any culture before. I mean, it's Lens, it's the coal Industry and it's a territory which was completely damaged by the First World War. So you bring something. You know, it's quite a wonderful experience.”

The Louvre-Lens cost 115 millions euros, but some half a million tourists are excepted to visit. And the hope is that the money they spend will revolutionize one of the poorest region of France and gives the city of Lens a desperately needed newness of life. ""

Wendy Urquart, BBC news.

1) Rehabilitating an old place with a new project.

The pit n°9 of Lens.

The choice of the old pit n°9, at Lens, for the Louvre-Lens’ site, is a strong symbol which reflects efforts of conversion of the coalfield while recalling its glorious industrial past. Closed in 1960, the pit lied fallowed. Nowadays, there is nothing left from the infrastructures, apart from the footprint of a well. Today, economic and social conditions remain difficult in the region, with a unemployment rate of 15%. 


Launched in 2003, the project was born in a specific context: the museum will be on the mineral field “Lens-Liévin”. The new building was built above the pit n°9, that is to say, which is a deserted place for a long time. While many illusions have been lost since the closing down of an industry that has conditioned during decades the life and the employment of the territory, therefore the Louvre-Lens will  become a new centre of life for Lens. 

However it is not only a place of memory: the museum has collections to propose and explain to the public. Its must mix pleasure and learning, says Juliette Guépratte. Schools can go to the museum thanks to buses setting up by the Town Hall. But what will play an essential role for the Louvre-Lens is probably the public park that surrounds the museum, which has been studied by Catherine Mosbach to become a place to take a walk in the city. Furthermore, cultural jogging sessions will be created to attract adolescents.  

Miners of Lens in 1900.

But, it is above all a site of cultural decentralization. This "other Louvre" has placed its visitors department at the heart of its project. And this plural form for the word “visitor” makes more sense at Lens. Indeed, the museum is located in a hub between the countries of the North of Europe, but the objective here, is the Cultural Democratization. The museum must appeal to the resident of Lens.

The museum is a new hope for this part of the region which is known for its difficulties. Its aim is to attract the population as well as people from other regions to revive the space.

2) Getting together the population around the project.

“Nous voulons d’abord convaincre le public pensant que ce musée n’est pas fait pour eux : ce n’est pas le cas” (Xavier Dectot, the director in Beaux-arts editions, a special publication about Louvre-Lens, in December 2012).

The Project office.

The role of the Louvre-Lens is to bring together all the people around the project and various activities organized by the institution. So, they had the House of the project, which was very important in the urban landscape until the opening of the museum, or even the start of the operation "Le Louvre in blood and gold" at the stadium Bollaert.

First, the museum should not be in competition with the local population and shops. Indeed, it was decided for example to create only a single restaurant far from the museum, and let the privilege, to the establishment "In Cathy", a chip shop, for the public who would be hungry before or after a visit to the Louvre-Lens. We also note that there is no hotel around the museum. Again, this is a choice of the Louvre-Lens to let the benefit to the hotels of the city.

Next to the building site of the museum, a House of the project was installed from 2009 to receive the inhabitants of Lens, but also the inhabitants of the region and tourists. The aim was to discover the museum which was born in front of their eyes thanks to meetings with speakers, projections about the city's past, conferences, tours of the building site, or even outdoor events. 

" The Louvre in blood and gold ".

Finally, we can mention the operation "The Louvre in blood and gold" which took place at the stadium Bollaert, on 26^th Septembre 2012, during a football match between Lens and PSG. Reproduces of masterpieces of the Louvre-Lens will be installed during the week. For example, you could see "The abduction of the Sabine women" of Nicolas Poussin on the Lepagnot square or "The stuff of Heroes" by Rubens. The project combines sport and culture, and allows the lensois to be proud of the diversity and the richness of the region.

Another example particularly representative :

« The people of Lens lent wholehearted support to the campaign, led by the mayor Guy Delcourt and the president of the Lens-Liévin urban area Michel Vancaille.
A local support committee was created and local inhabitants were invited to come and add their signatures to the campaign at the city hall. All in all, over 8,000 local people signed the book of support! During a visit to Lens, the Culture Minister was impressed by the vigor of the local campaign to bring the Louvre to the city as a symbol of pride and cultural renewal » (From the Louvre website).

The museum tries to find a deal between itself and the population. It wants to be in harmony with its environment and tries to be connected with the city. Thus, the museum desires to be an exchange place where everyone is welcome.

3) To bring a new audience.

The Louvre-Lens could be a place of experimentation used for the experimentation of new devices as well as new methods of cultural mediation. Indeed, the Louvre and its structure do not allow such practices, but the Louvre-Lens allows new relationships between the public and the museum.

Touch screen tablets.

The museum would innovate by creating original visits with the public: thus the guide is not in front of the public but among the public. An exchange is possible with the visitors who can speak freely, which is to allow having a new way to develop a critical approach.

The possibility to visit the museum's reserves had been added, which is particularly appreciated by the public. On the one hand, children can discover how the museum realizes, for example, cartels. On the other hand, adults can meet professionals who explain their role in the museum and their daily routine. Without going so far, the public can discover the museum administration through touch screen tablets available in the room "Behind the scenes at the museum".

Nonetheless, Lens stays a perfect site to have foreigners in the museum, inasmuch as it has a position between Lille and Arras, the two regional capitals. It is close to the A26 freeway, from Calais to Reims, and the A1 freeway from Paris to Lille, which are important accesses for English and Dutch people. You have the TGV line too, which is very advantageous, that is why, you can watch a cosmopolitan advertising on internet : 

        This video is based on an accumulation of masterpieces of different centuries, like the Gallery of time, without text or any voice, and finishes with a date : 12/12/2012. This is the opening of the museum, the new masterpiece for the modern time. This is a universal advertising, which can be understood by everybody.

        « In short, the Louvre-Lens will be a museum of the 21st century, a versatile and many-faceted museum with a social, artistic, and educational role » (quotation from the Louvre website).