The winning team will design a new landmark entrance for the museum via the Perrault Colonnade, which marks the building’s eastern wing, in addition to new access and exit points and public spaces within and outside the Louvre.
Also on the shortlist (announced last Friday) are:
French practice Architecturestudio with New York practice Diller Scofidio + Renfro
French firm Dubuisson Architecture in collaboration with RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner SANAA and London landscape gardener Dan Pearson Studio
Sou Fujimoto Atelier Paris with Japanese studio Sou Fujimoto architects
Californian based STUDIOS Architecture with Selldorf Architects – the US firm behind the recent revamp of the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing.
AL_A is working in collaboration with Parisian design agency NC Nathalie Crinière.
The competition has been organised by France’s Ministry of Culture and was launched in June.
The Grande Colonnade project aims to redefine how visitors experience one of the world’s best-known museums by creating innovative entrances, enhancing interior circulation, and revitalising its immediate external environment.
The competition brief asked for architectural solutions that respect the Louvre’s historic fabric while introducing contemporary interventions that improve accessibility, sustainability and the overall visitor experience. The winning team will also create a new dedicated Mona Lisa gallery.
The overhaul is a key element of the wider Nouvelle Renaissance initiative of upgrades announced by French president Emmanuel Macron in January.
The winner will be decided by a panel of 21 judges , including Paris-based, Lebanese-born Lina Ghotmeh, who the AJ revealed earlier this year had been picked to renovate the west wing of the British Museum in London; Bernard Desmoulin, the French architect behind the Cluny Museum’s visitor centre in Paris, ; Lebanese-born, Paris-based Hala Wardé, who collaborated with Jean Nouvel on the Louvre Abu Dhabi; and Li Chung Pei, son of the late Chinese-American architect IM Pei, who designed the Louvre’s pyramid entrance, completed in 1989.
The Louvre was originally built as a medieval fortress before becoming a royal palace and is now the world’s largest art museum, welcoming millions of visitors each year.
The 183m-long Perrault Colonnade – also known as the Louvre Colonnade – was constructed in the late 17th century and forms the museum’s eastern boundary.
A winner will be announced early next year.
Louvre contest finalists
Amanda Levete Architects (AL_A), NC Nathalie Crinière, Carole Benaiteau, VDLA, Atelier SOIL
Architecturestudio, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Atelier Brückner, LAMAYA, TER
Dubuisson Architecture, SANAA, Dan Pearson Studio
Sou Fujimoto ateliers Paris, Sou Fujimoto architects, Ducks Scéno, Vogt
STUDIOS architecture, Selldorf architects, Scénarchié, BASE
