{"id":680498,"date":"2026-07-08T14:14:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T14:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/680498\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T14:14:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T14:14:24","slug":"rcr-arquitectes-designs-new-paris-cultural-institution-large-on-ile-seguin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/680498\/","title":{"rendered":"RCR Arquitectes Designs New Paris Cultural Institution “Large” on \u00cele Seguin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RCR<\/a>Le Large \u2013 Centre d\u2019art de la Pointe des Arts \u2013 \u00cele Seguin. RCR Arquitectes, CALQ Argence d\u2019architecture, Baumschlager Eberle Architekten. Image \u00a9 Nicolas Trouillard<\/p>\n

Published on July 08, 2026<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/www.archdaily.com\/1056611\/rcr-arquitectes-designs-new-paris-cultural-institution-large-on-ile-seguin<\/p>\n

A new space dedicated to contemporary art on the \u00cele Seguin, in the Greater Paris<\/a> area, is opening in October 2026. The new cultural institution, named “Large,” will be housed in a building designed by Catalan architects and Pritzker Prize recipients RCR Arquitectes<\/a>, the studio’s first project in Paris. It is situated on La Pointe des Arts, a large-scale redevelopment of the \u00cele Seguin’s former industrial area into a mixed-use complex spanning more than 53,000 m\u00b2 and focused on arts and culture. The project’s architectural massing follows the stratification concept set out in the masterplan by Ateliers Jean Nouvel<\/a>. The institution will open with the exhibition “Imaginary Engine: From Masterpieces of the Collection Renault to Artists of Today,” bringing together 55 artists from 23 countries to explore the relationship between humanity and machines, in tribute to the site’s industrial history and Renault’s decades-long collaboration with artists.<\/p>\n

\"RCR<\/a>\"RCR<\/a>\"RCR<\/a>\"RCR<\/a>\"RCR+ 12<\/a><\/p>\n

\"RCRLe Large \u2013 Centre d\u2019art de la Pointe des Arts \u2013 \u00cele Seguin. RCR Arquitectes, CALQ Argence d\u2019architecture, Baumschlager Eberle Architekten. Image \u00a9 Nicolas Trouillard<\/a><\/p>\n

The project sits at the tip of the \u00cele Seguin, an island in the river Seine long known as a historic industrial site. The Renault Factory operated there from 1919 until 1992, becoming a major automobile production hub and a symbol of French industrial history. The factory was demolished between 2004 and 2005, and in 2009 Jean Nouvel was appointed master planner to convert the island into an eco-friendly cultural hub. This wider transformation, known as La Pointe des Arts, began with the inauguration of Shigeru Ban’s La Seine Musicale<\/a> in April 2017; the 11.5-hectare island now hosts a growing number of internationally focused cultural and arts projects<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"RCRPostcard of the Billancourt Factory January 1, 1905. Image Courtesy of Renault Communications – All rights reserved<\/a><\/p>\n

RCR Arquitectes<\/a>‘ new 41,000 m\u00b2 building brings together 7,000 m\u00b2 of retail and foodservice, a 5,000 m\u00b2 contemporary arts centre, 20,000 m\u00b2 of office space, and an 8-screen Path\u00e9 cinema with a 6,000 m\u00b2 IMAX theatre, across six upper floors, a riverbank ground floor, a basement, and 1,200 m\u00b2 of landscaped terraces. The building faces west, with no facing structures, and south, toward the park, the Seine, and the hills of Meudon. Its U-shaped first three floors are structured around an interior street opening onto the forecourt at bridge level, with wide east-west openings revealing both riverbanks: a high square on the street, animated by the arts centre and shops, and a low square on the banks, bordered by shops and the hotel. At riverbank level, the plinth houses the cinema, entered from the forecourt, with a gallery overlooking the Seine. On the north side, an upper terrace forms a garden where the offices blend into the surrounding hills. The arts centre anchors the volume, its exhibition spaces at terrace level linking both riverbanks through an open volume cantilevered over the Seine.<\/p>\n

Related Article From Factories to Futures: Adaptive Reuse in the Post-Industrial City<\/a> <\/p>\n

The building’s most distinctive volume is enclosed by a fa\u00e7ade of Corten steel, whose patina will develop over time. The rust-coloured envelope references the riverside industrial aesthetic and integrates with the surrounding landscape. The material is also used for column cladding, curtain walling, wall cladding, and solar shading. Other aluminium-clad surfaces reflect the sky, light, and water, while unfinished concrete marks the continuity of the plinth. Light filters through mashrabiya screens on the plate-glass windows and through hidden openings, with the architecture punctuated by openings that offer vistas across the island’s slopes and the surrounding landscape.<\/p>\n

\"RCRLe Large \u2013 Centre d\u2019art de la Pointe des Arts \u2013 \u00cele Seguin. RCR Arquitectes, CALQ Argence d\u2019architecture, Baumschlager Eberle Architekten. Image \u00a9 Nicolas Trouillard<\/a>\"RCRLe Large \u2013 Centre d\u2019art de la Pointe des Arts \u2013 \u00cele Seguin. RCR Arquitectes et CALQ Architectes. Image \u00a9 Nicolas Trouillard<\/a><\/p>\n

The building’s interior unfolds around a pillar-free main exhibition area with curved walls, spanning 1,000 m\u00b2 and rising 14 metres high by 42 metres wide, with a large window opening onto the surrounding landscaped terrace. A concealed staircase leads to two further galleries, each with 500 m\u00b2 of floorspace, on the 5th and 6th floors, where a central core anchors the layout while doubling as an unconventional display wall, and a balcony on each level offers a bird’s-eye view of the main gallery below. Throughout the building, floors are finished in matte galvanised steel parquet, and despite the scale of its volumes, the space is acoustically balanced to produce no echo. From the top floor, a double-helix staircase descends to the fourth floor, where an escalator, identical to the one at the building’s entrance, carries visitors down to the bookshop and boutique on the ground floor.<\/p>\n

\"RCRLe Large \u2013 Centre d\u2019art de la Pointe des Arts \u2013 \u00cele Seguin. RCR Arquitectes et CALQ. Image \u00a9 Nicolas Trouillard<\/a>\"RCRLe Large \u2013 Centre d\u2019art de la Pointe des Arts \u2013 \u00cele Seguin. RCR Arquitectes et CALQ. Image \u00a9 Nicolas Trouillard<\/a><\/p>\n

The inaugural exhibition, titled “Imaginary Engine: From Masterpieces of the Collection Renault to Artists of Today,” opens on 17 October 2026 in collaboration with the Fonds Renault pour l’Art et la Culture. It pays tribute to the site’s industrial history and to Renault’s contribution to the arts scene since the 1960s, when the company began collaborating with artists to create a collection of works inspired by manufacturing and the automobile. Bringing together 55 artists from 23 countries, the exhibition explores the relationship between humanity and machines. According to curator Cecilia Alemani, “the exhibition examines the mechanisms of modernity, using the factory, the engine and the assembly line as metaphors for the delicate balance between our individual capacities and collective functioning.”<\/p>\n

Other recent news in cultural architecture includes Sn\u00f8hetta’s Shanghai Grand Opera House, a spiralling design nearing completion<\/a> as part of a broader cultural master plan to reinforce Shanghai’s role as an international centre of culture and innovation. MVRDV and Balance Architettura have unveiled their proposal for the renovation of the Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art (GAM)<\/a> in Turin, Italy, following their selection through a public competition in December 2025. Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi, the new performing arts institution designed by the late architect Frank Gehry<\/a>, has recently started construction in the United Arab Emirates. Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has also unveiled new images of the National Juneteenth Museum<\/a>, offering a closer look at the design of the approximately 6,690 m\u00b2 institution planned for Texas, in the United States.<\/p>\n