Museum Quai Branly Paris
In every way, a building as fascinating and singular as its content
For French presidents, it has become customary to make a bold statement, both architectural and cultural, as an enduring legacy of their time in office – and several of them have followed the example of Georges Pompidou, who initiated the tradition with the Centre Pompidou. A multifunctional venue located in the very heart of Paris, it is an early masterpiece of Richard Rodgers and Renzo Piano. The building is home, among others, to Europe’s largest collection of modern art. Two similar statements are the Musée d’Orsay, a former train station which, under President Giscard d’Estaing, was repurposed by Gae Aulenti, and the makeover, at the behest of President François Mitterrand, of the Grand Louvre, with its glass pyramid and entrance hall designed by I.M. Pei.
The Musée du Quai Branly – renamed Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in 2016 to honour its initiator – is definitely no exception, prompting the New York Times to describe it as …“defiant, mysterious and wildly eccentric”. Perched on stilts on the left bank of the Seine, next to the Eiffel Tower, the museum is reminiscent of a long footbridge which, unexpectedly, is facing the river rather than spanning it. Its convex façade panels combines slanted glass panes on the upper level with 29 windowless boxes of all sizes protruding along the full length of its middle section. The jumble they create contrasts so strongly with the smooth curve of the building that, at first sight, they almost look like a puzzling afterthought.
More than any other element, these boxes are the visual signature of the museum. No two boxes are alike, as they differ in both dimensions and colour: Trespa® Meteon® façade panels – in a range of solid tones going from taupe to ochre through various reds and browns – proved ideally suited for the purpose. Despite being exposed to the elements and the urban environment since 2006, the panels still look as pristine and vivid as on the day there were installed.
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