Palais de Tokyo. Site for contemporary creation

Ten years after its reopening, the Palais de Tokyo spreads out to imbue and fill the totality and each part of the original building with the spirit of the centre of contemporary creativity there established in 2002. This new step makes possible to exploit the height, richness and synergy of the spaces and volumes in their entirety for public use. Cedric Price's Fun Palace has served both as a source of inspiration and a challenge here: to create an open and intelligent container that produces enough freedom of use and flexibility as to allow for a continuous and nonconformist renewal of the space. 'Fun Palace, arrive and leave ... or just have a look at it as you pass. ... No need to look for an entrance & just walk in anywhere. No doors, foyers, queues, or commissionaires: It's up to you how you use it. Look around & take a lift, a ramp, an escalator to wherever or whatever seems interesting...' Cedric Price The scheme exploits the verticality of the space through the four different levels. It will be possible to roam from top to bottom, from full light to very dark, going from one space to the next, from one activity to another, so that the public can see something at every level. It is important to preserve the extraordinary ambiance, the perception of large spaces, and the views revealed by its undeveloped state, taking advantage of its volumetric and lighting conditions. The amount of space available and still to be occupied makes the complexity of the building, the diversity of its architecture and its exploitable potential visible. The operation was carried out in a year, covering 16,500 sq. m. for a budget of 13 millions € net.