BIG and Freaks' waterfront cultural hub MECA opens in Bordeaux

The city of Bordeaux is celebrating the inauguration of its new waterfront cultural venue designed by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) in tandem with Parisian agency Freaks, opening today. The MECA (Maison de l’Économie Créative et de la Culture), a €60m multidisciplinary hub, includes a FRAC regional art centre, a performing arts centre, the OARA, and an agency for books, cinema and audiovisual media, the ALCA. It is aimed to bring a more international presence to Bordeaux and the Nouvelle Aquitaine region in southwest France.
‘This building should embody our commitment to contemporary creation – from contemporary and performing arts through to literature,’ says MECA’s project manager, Frédéric Vilcocq. ‘BIG understood this and transcribed it architecturally. We were seduced by their project’s monumental dimension, the asymmetrical arch and how people can use the immense ramp to traverse the MECA without going inside.’
The stunning building on the site of a former abattoir enables visitors to walk across a ramp to the River Garonne even when the venue is closed. The FRAC occupies the three upper floors (with 1,200 sq m of exhibition space, production studios for artists and storage facilities) and boasts a huge terrace overlooking the city.
‘The project is like a giant loop wrapping around itself and creating a hole in the building with a distorted arch on the top,' says Jakob Sand, partner at BIG, who managed the project with Ingels. ‘It creates public space and is a new gift to the city of Bordeaux.'
BIG beat rivals SANAA, W-Architectures from Toulouse and Bordeaux-based Flint for the commission, with Freaks (founded by Yves Pasquet, Cyril Gauthier and Guillaume Aubry) partnering on the project. ‘As an agency, we were too small at the time [to compete alone] and BIG said "yes" immediately,’ explains Pasquet.
The parametrically-designed building features BIG's signature expressive style. Pixellations of square windows on the facade are designed to control the amount of light entering the spaces and offices conceal the number of floors and create a sense of transparency. Meanwhile, the theatre's stage is characterised by a black cubed backdrop and rows of seating (otherwise hidden under the floor) pop up during performances.
This is the second project BIG has unveiled in France this year, following the inauguration of Galeries Lafayette on the Champs-Élysées in March.
INFORMATION
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Here’s what to order (and admire) at Carbone London
New York’s favourite, and buzziest, Italian restaurant arrives in the British capital, marking the brand’s first expansion into Europe
-
Griffin Frazen on conceiving the cinematic runway sets for New York label Khaite: ‘If people feel moved we’ve succeeded’
The architectural designer – who helped conceive the sets for ‘The Brutalist’ – collaborates with his wife Catherine Holstein on the scenography for her Khaite runway shows, the latest of which took place in NYFW this past weekend
-
How to travel meaningfully in an increasingly generic world
Lauren Ho explores the need for resonance, not reach, in the way we choose to make journeys of discovery
-
‘Landscape architecture is the queen of science’: Emanuele Coccia in conversation with Bas Smets
Italian philosopher Emanuele Coccia meets Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets to discuss nature, cities and ‘biospheric thinking’
-
An apartment is for sale within Cité Radieuse, Le Corbusier’s iconic brutalist landmark
Once a radical experiment in urban living, Cité Radieuse remains a beacon of brutalist architecture. Now, a coveted duplex within its walls has come on the market
-
Maison Louis Carré, the only Alvar Aalto house in France, reopens after restoration
Designed by the modernist architect in the 1950s as the home of art dealer Louis Carré, the newly restored property is now open to visit again – take our tour
-
Discover Bjarke Ingels, a modern starchitect of 'pragmatic utopian architecture'
Discover the work of Bjarke Ingels, a modern-day icon and 'the embodiment of the second generation of global starchitects' – this is our ultimate guide to his work
-
Meet Ferdinand Fillod, a forgotten pioneer of prefabricated architecture
His clever flat-pack structures were 'a little like Ikea before its time.'
-
Eileen Gray: A guide to the pioneering modernist’s life and work
Gray forever shaped the course of design and architecture. Here's everything to know about her inspiring career
-
The Grand Palais is a Parisian architectural feast, emerging from a mammoth restoration project
The Grand Palais reopens, unfurling its spectacular architectural splendour, meticulously restored by Chatillon Architectes – take a tour
-
Surrealist townhouse Villa Junot lights up Montmartre – and it’s for rent
We go inside Montmartre’s Villa Junot, a former composer’s home reimagined by interior design studio Claves, where surrealism meets art deco splendour