Vincent van Gogh Foundation

Located in the Léautaud de Donines mansion, built in the fifteenth century and held since 1924 by the Bank of France, the renovation and extension was organized around another major character: the particular light of Arles, so dear to Van Gogh. The architectural project tapped into the core of the Foundation's artistic mission: to create exchanges. Starting with the conversations between Van Gogh and the artists: those of the collection, those invited to expose, and those artists who created works in harmony with the building: Bertrand Lavier with his sliding entrance wall, Raphael Hefti, with his colored glass sculpture on the roof of the bookshop, and Fritz Hauser, who created the stairwell. Natural daylight, the famous light of Arles, guides the reorganization of exhibition volumes and space (1000 m2), designed with exceptional modularity to best serve the works of art, and in rigorous relationship with conservation requirements. Throughout the visitor s experience, there are colorful projections on the immaculate walls of the reception area and gift shop, an extension of the glass above the entrance in the courtyard.

Skylight openings in the large exhibit hall transmit a structure created on the rooftop terrace: 20 sheds arranged in five rows of three, each oriented according to the path of the sun. The other rooms and offices are lit by a pre existing tubular daylight and the whiteness of the limestone that has rediscovered its centrality. Finally, there is the direct daylight from the open sky on the cascading terraces arranged to sketch out a variety of landscapes: from the intimacy of the first floor to the roof, where the panoramic view is revealed, this view that marks the building in its relationship to the city and its surroundings, and in doing so, as Guillaume Mansart states, its relationship to the history of art. To attract, house, protect, and promote the most coveted works of art: the ambition of the Van Gogh Foundation describes the technical stakes of the project. With the support of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which consulted and assisted the general contractor on issues of security, safety and conservation, this renovation incorporated international museum standards to create a jewelled display case able to convince the most demanding and prestigious art lenders.

« The violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, red house' by Raphaël Hefti mediates the light of Arles, projected onto the roof of the gift shop and lobby of the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, like a disassembled kaleidoscope. Invited by the Foundation's Artistic Director, Bice Curiger, the Swiss artist delivered a new instalment in his continued work on the reflection/non-reflection of glass. Weaving a close dialogue not only with Fluor's architecture but also with new technologies, he put dichroic glass in the spotlight, one of his preferred mediums for playing with opacity and transparency offered by the different layers of oxides. To improve energy performance, it was decided to reinforce the air tightness of the building, to install a maximum-efficiency VRV system and to opt for very low-emissivity glazing, in particular on the glass roof. Lighting, uses energy-efficient LEDs. All these systems are controlled by a building management system (BMS) and a KNX system (over 500 sensors). Size of the site : 1350 m2 Size of the building : 4000 m2