In focus: the Musée de la Romanité in Nîmes
Positioning a museum opposite the Arènes de Nîmes was the brief facing the 103 teams of architects who entered the competition for the city's new Musée de la Romanité. In October 2011, the 18-member jury invited three of them to develop their proposals further: Rudy Ricciotti's practice, based in Bandol (Rudy Ricciotti); the Paris-based, Brazilian-born Élisabeth de Portzamparc; and the 1984 Pritzker laureate Richard Meier.
The new museum will replace the existing archaeological museum, which has become too cramped for its reserve collection of 25,000 pieces, including 150 architectural fragments (columns, capitals). Work is due to start in the first quarter of 2014 and to be completed in the first half of 2017.
The site is an island block that has lain neglected for some twenty years, between rue de la République and rue Alexandre Ducros. The scheme faces the Palais de Justice and extends on from the city's Arènes. Among the requirements of the architecte des Monuments Historiques is the retention and restoration of the façade and its arcades on rue de la République.
The three finalist schemes share similar overall massing, a consequence of the brief. Note, though, that the Bandol architect's proposal has no annexe building, which allows for a more generous archaeological garden. The Sanctuaire de la Source plays a major role in both French proposals. The treatment of materials also differs: from Rudy Ricciotti's forest of posts, to the lightness of Élisabeth de Portzamparc's veils of glass, to Richard Meier's generous glazed skins.
The jury chose Élisabeth de Portzamparc's practice as the winner, and I invite you to discover its scheme now.
- Élisabeth de Portzamparc's scheme (winner)
- Agence Rudy Ricciotti's scheme
- Richard Meier & Partners' scheme