Redesigned Carnavalet Museum celebrates Paris
Chatillon Architectes, in association with Snøhetta and Nathalie Crinière’s Agence NC, have given Paris’ Carnavalet Museum a modern refresh
The Carnavalet Museum has reopened its doors in the French capital after an extensive, four-year renovation, and it is a majestic celebration of the city of Paris – one achieved through a gentle touch that priotises respect and openness. The works, led by Chatillon Architectes, in association with Snøhetta and Nathalie Crinière’s Agence NC, focus on ‘magnifying the building’, explains the team. ‘[We had to] to reinvent everything, without changing anything.'
The museum is a long-term staple of Paris’ cultural scene, focusing on the city and its history, arts and transformations through the ages. First opening in 1880 and set mostly within two mansions, called Carnavalet and Le Peletier Saint-Fargeau, the institution had been affected by confusing layout additions and changes over the years, which meant that a redesign and refocus of its tour and narrative were becoming a pressing matter.
The architectural team was appointed to work with the existing historical architecture, the displays, and some clever new interventions, in order to refresh the experience and create a home for the museum's extensive collections of furniture, objects and artwork that would be fit for the 21st century. Opening up the interior, and improving accessibility and legibility of the trajectory and displays were crucial.
‘The Carnavalet Museum is not a monument, it is a small city, or rather an ecosystem with its stratifications, its fauna of sculpture, and its flora of painting... We tiptoe around it, without uprooting anything, without moving anything, with the delicacy of a botanist,' says architect and founder of Chatillon Architectes, François Chatillon, of the team’s challenge to respectfully rethink the museum.
Key design gestures include ‘rediscovering' the complex's original entrance at 23 rue de Sévigné; creating a flowing, fluid circulation plan; maintaining a visual connection with the outdoors, which was a particular challenge given the internal differences in levels and ceiling heights; and making way for whole new galleries on the first floor.
The three studios worked together on the exhibition design, aiming to create a blend of old and new that feels organic and respectful. ‘This intervention illustrates a contemporary approach that we stand for; as opposed to an architecture of rupture, it is one of historical continuity, and continuity of life,' concludes Chatillon.
INFORMATION
chatillonarchitectes.com
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
AtArchitecture on narratives, uplifting spaces and their search for 'beauty and meaning'
Mumbai's AtArchitecture discusses its methods, ethos and hopes for India's architecture through its portfolio and search for 'beauty and meaning'
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Samuel Ross on working with Hublot: ‘A rhythm has been established’
As Samuel Ross and Hublot unveil the Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Carbon SR_A watch, Ross tells us what inspired the design
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Flack Studio and Volker Haug's lighting collection makes its Australian debut with a showroom refresh
The ‘Me and You’ lighting collection by Volker Haug Studio and Flack Studio launches in Australia with six new additions and a Melbourne showroom revamp
By Ali Morris Published
-
Explore wood architecture, Paris' new timber tower and how to make sustainable construction look ‘iconic’
A new timber tower brings wood architecture into sharp focus in Paris and highlights ways to craft buildings that are both sustainable and look great: we spoke to project architects LAN, and explore the genre through further examples
By Amy Serafin Published
-
A transformed chalet by Studio Razavi redesigns an existing structure into a well-crafted Alpine retreat
This overhauled chalet in the French Alps blends traditional forms with a highly bespoke interior
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
La Grande Motte: touring the 20th-century modernist dream of a French paradise resort
La Grande Motte and its utopian modernist dreams, as seen through the lens of photographers Laurent Kronental and Charly Broyez, who spectacularly captured the 20th-century resort community in the south of France
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain unveils plans for new Jean Nouvel building
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has plans for a new building in Paris, working with architect Jean Nouvel
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Discover Tempe à Pailla, a lesser-known Eileen Gray gem nestled in the French Riviera
Tempe à Pailla is a modernist villa in the French Riviera brimming with history, originally designed by architect Eileen Gray and extended by late British painter Graham Sutherland
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Gulbenkian Foundation's new art centre by Kengo Kuma is light and inviting
Lisbon's Gulbenkian Foundation reveals its redesign and new contemporary art museum, Centro de Arte Moderna (CAM), by Kengo Kuma with landscape architects VDLA
By Amah-Rose Mcknight Abrams Published
-
At Lee Ufan Arles, tension and calm guide relationships between space and art
Lee Ufan Arles opens in the south of France, a collaboration between the famed Korean artist and Japanese architect Tadao Ando
By Amah-Rose Mcknight Abrams Published
-
A new era: Centre Pompidou architects discuss their bold 2030 plans
Plans for the Centre Pompidou 2030 vision were recently announced, revealing a design refresh of the iconic Paris structure; we caught up with its lead architects Moreau Kusunoki to hear more
By Ellie Stathaki Published