OMA’s Lafayette Anticipations in Paris is a ‘curatorial machine’
![OMAs Lafayette in Paris](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rCuHbWxTW3qmehjYhq3noV-415-80.jpg)
Architects often talk about flexible buildings, interiors that can easily adapt to different needs, ready to accommodate several functions. But you’d be hard pressed to find one that took the meaning of this as literally as Rem Koolhaas’ practice OMA did in its most recent project in Paris, Lafayette Anticipations, its first finished building in the French capital.
Faced with a 19th-century industrial structure on a relatively modest site in the Marais, and a brief from Fondation d’Entreprise Galeries Lafayette to create an art centre fit to host three to four annual shows, plus performances and workshops, the architects approached the design with a truly open mind.
The result, Lafayette Anticipations, is a ‘curatorial machine’ of a building, with an adaptable interior that gives spatial exibility a new meaning. ‘Paris is replete with prestigious collections, yet no place is absolutely dedicated to the work of artists or to the production of their pieces,’ says Guillaume Houzé, president of Fondation Galeries Lafayette.
Our selection of next-level architects take centre stage at the OMA-designed Lafayette Anticipations in Paris.
‘There was thus an opportunity to establish, in the heart of the city, a toolbox giving creators the chance to multiply their capacities and actions, prompting the emergence of new forms and ideas, then sharing them with the greatest number. Within the 9 rue du Plâtre building, OMA made these aspirations a reality.’
In order to achieve this, OMA completely gutted the existing structure (built in 1891 by French architect Samuel Menjot de Dammartin for Xavier Ruel’s Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville), keeping the interior simple and uncluttered, while transforming the courtyard at its heart into a glass ‘exhibition tower’ composed of four mobile platforms.
‘We were asked to accommodate an institution that offers carte blanche to artists in a building entirely protected by heritage regulations,’ says OMA project architect Clément Périssé.
‘Only a machine could solve this. By inserting a moveable mechanism into its courtyard, the only space open to intervention, we activated the entire existing building and gave it the potential to serve this ambitious project.’
The central ‘rack and pin’ system allows the floors to move and be adaptable to the work on show.
The gallery now spans 2,200 sq m and includes 875 sq m of exhibition space, as well as production workshops, visitor engagement areas, an organic, vegan, gluten-free café-restaurant, and a store, within one beautifully composed, well-oiled ecosystem clad in timber, concrete, anodised aluminium, galvanised steel grating and limestone.
The gallery’s holistic vision also allows for artwork to be made on site, with its facilities open to professionals from a wide variety of disciplines, including fashion, design, visual arts and performance.
Referencing the opening show by American artist Lutz Bacher, Houzé says, ‘Numerous pieces presented in the show will have been produced in the Lafayette Anticipations workshop. Here, the diversity of the artists and their work will encourage new opportunities for spatial cohabitation within our modular environment.’
As originally featured in the July 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*232)
The building was a renovation of an existing 19th-century building at 9 rue du Platre in Paris
The building is a unique system of four moving floors which can move up and down within what used to be the building’s courtyard
Each floor is divided into two parts, 49 different configurations are possible
The space provides flexible conditions for performance and display as well as facilities for production on the lower ground floor
The U-shaped building is lined in sheet aluminium, with balcony walls created from OMA-preferred aluminium grid
Sheet aluminium and grids bring an industrial feeling to the interior
Maintaining elements of the building made the project more challenging, but also more exciting for the architects
The ‘machine’ at its centre appears analogue in the extreme – a highly readable rack and pin system enabled the floors to move – and its clasped inside sturdy industrial-standard I-beams, those these are painted in the delicated mauve shade of fleur de lin
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the OMA website and the Lafayette Anticipations website
ADDRESS
9 Rue du Plâtre
75004 Paris
France
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
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).
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
‘Who has not dreamed of seeing what the eye cannot grasp?’: Rencontres d’Arles comes to the south of France
Les Rencontres d’Arles 2024 presents over 40 exhibitions and nearly 200 artists, and includes the latest iteration of the BMW Art Makers programme
By Sophie Gladstone Published
-
Van Gogh Foundation celebrates ten years with a shape-shifting drone display and The Starry Night
The Van Gogh Foundation presents ‘Van Gogh and the Stars’, anchored by La Nuit Etoilée, which explores representations of the night sky, and the 19th-century fascination with the cosmos
By Amy Serafin Published
-
Marisa Merz’s unseen works at LaM, Lille, have a uniquely feminine spirit
Marisa Merz’s retrospective at LaM, Lille, is a rare showcase of her work, pursuing life’s most fragile, transient details
By Finn Blythe Published
-
Damien Hirst takes over Château La Coste
Damien Hirst’s ‘The Light That Shines’ at Château La Coste includes new and existing work, and takes over the entire 500-acre estate in Provence
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Tia-Thuy Nguyen encases Chateau La Coste oak tree in tonne of stainless steel strips
Tia-Thuy Nguyen’s ‘Flower of Life’ lives in the grounds of sculpture park and organic winery Château La Coste in France
By Harriet Quick Published
-
Remote Antarctica research base now houses a striking new art installation
In Antarctica, Kyiv-based architecture studio Balbek Bureau has unveiled ‘Home. Memories’, a poignant art installation at the remote, penguin-inhabited Vernadsky Research Base
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Paris art exhibitions: a guide to exhibitions this weekend
As Emily in Paris fever puts the city of love at the centre of the cultural map, stay-up-to-date with our guide to the best Paris art exhibitions
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Cyprien Gaillard on chaos, reorder and excavating a Paris in flux
We interviewed French artist Cyprien Gaillard ahead of his major two-part show, ‘Humpty \ Dumpty’ at Palais de Tokyo and Lafayette Anticipations (until 8 January 2023). Through abandoned clocks, love locks and asbestos, he dissects the human obsession with structural restoration
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published