After 20 years since its opening, an exhibition has been held in the library itself in commemoration of its creation process, from 1988 to 1998.

The National Library of France, work of the architect Dominique Perrault, hosts this exhibition also organized by the architect himself.
The exhibition is divided into four themes: the architectural object, the monument and the territory, the garden, the materials and the furniture; the viewer can find the plans and original documentation, as well as the models and furniture designed by Perrault.

From the project, considered groundscape architecture, its urban relevance can be understood, and its importance in the design of the new cities.
 

Description of project by Bibliothèque nationale de France

"I want to see the construction and development of one of the world's largest libraries of an entirely new kind," declared President François Mitterrand on July 14, 1988.


The BnF proposes the exhibition: Dominique Perrault - The National Library of France, Portrait of a project 1988 - 1998, an exhibition which opens the doors of the architect's workshop and allows to discover the process of creation of the François-Mitterrand Library.

In 1989, after an international competition, the architect Dominique Perrault, at only 36 years old, was chosen laureate. After the Grand Louvre, the Opéra Bastille or the Institut du Monde Arabe, this new project located outside historic Paris completes the policy of major works conducted during two septennats. It will be for the architect to create "a place for Paris, a library for France", a place open to all, both public space and initiatory course.

The project, innovative in its architecture and registration in a site then largely fallow, is the founding act of the development of a whole new district of the Paris metropolis. It is also a fundamental achievement in the practice of Dominique Perrault, the first example of a "Groundscape" architecture: an underground architecture considered as a field of exploration capable of redefining the nature of the territory of our cities and designed to train the contours of a new urbanity.

While 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Research Library's rooms to the public, the exhibition, entrusted to Dominique Perrault, presents for the first time to the general public the history of the construction of this emblematic building, today hui labeled "remarkable contemporary architecture". It traces, from 1988 to 1998, a process of creation marked by intense debates, by the engagement of many partners and by multiple experiments punctuating its conception and its realization.

Thanks to a tour organized around four major themes - the architectural object, the monument and the territory, the garden, materials and furniture - the visitor will be able to understand the secrets and behind the scenes of the entire project, from its architecture to the definition of its urban location, from the creation of the garden to the different elements of furniture. The scenography - an open-plan environment consisting of suspended meshes and immersive projections creating play of light and transparency - will echo the architectural elements and specific furniture of the BnF. Exceptional pieces and documents, revealing this pivotal time for architecture and construction, will testify to a project of a rare magnitude.

The original films, sketches, plans and models from the architect's archives and various public collections will provide a new perspective on this building emblematic of contemporary Parisian architecture.

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Curator
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Dominique Perrault, architecte, membre de l’Institut
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Scientific Director
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Frédéric Migayrou, Deputy Director of the National Museum of Modern Art at the Pompidou Center
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Scenography
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Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost, architect designer, associate artistic director to Dominique Perrault Architect
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Audiovisual Director
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Richard Copans, director and producer, Les Films d'ici
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Publication
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The National Library of France - Dominique Perrault Portrait of a 1988-1998 project, under the direction of Frédéric Migayrou, deputy director of the National Museum of Modern Art at Centre Pompidou - 700 visuals, 448 pages - Éditions HYX
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Location
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Galerie II.- BnF I François-Mitterrand Quai François-Mauriac, Paris XIII. Site Richelieu: 5, rue Vivienne Paris II, France
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Dates and schedules
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Dates.- April 10 to July 22, 2018 / Schedules.- Thursday to Saturday 10-19h, Sunday 13-19h, close Monday and holidays / Entrance.- 9€, reduced 7€.
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Dominique Perrault (1953), architect from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1978) and Higher Diploma in Towm Planning (1979) from the same university, based its office in 1981 in Paris, and currently has two international offices in Geneva and Madrid. He has been professor in several Architectural Schools, as the one of Rennes, New Orleans, Chicago, Barcelona, Brussels or Zurich and his work has been exhibited in museums all around the world..

Figure of French architecture, Dominique Perrault gained international recognition after having won the competition for the National French library in 1989 at the age of 36. This project marked the starting point of many other public and private commissions abroad, such as The Velodrome and Olympic swimming pool of Berlin (1992), the extension of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg in (1996), the Olympic tennis centre in Madrid (2002), the campus of Ewha’s University in Seoul (2004) and the Fukoku Tower in Osaka, Japan (2010).

He is member of the Grand Paris scientific council, was appointed curator of the French Pavilion in the 12th Architecture Biennale in Venice (2010), being the subject of the installation METROPOLIS ?.

Among the prizes he has been awarded with, the AFEX Award for the Ewha Womans University in Korea and the “Grande Médaille d’or d’Architecture” from the Académie d’Architecture in 2010, the Mies van der Rohe prize (1997), the French national Grand Prize for Architecture (1993) and the Equerre d’argent prize for the Hotel Industriel Berlier (1989).

The body of his work was assembled in a monographic exhibition: “Dominique Perrault Architecture” exhibited at the Centre Georges Pompidou in 2008 and later made and itinerant show that travelled to Madrid (ICO Foundation, 2009) and Tokyo (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, 2010). In 2015 he was awarded with the Praemium Imperiale prize, by the imperial family of Japan and Japan Art Association.

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Published on: May 4, 2018
Cite: "La Bibliothèque nationale de France by Dominique Perrault, Portrait d’un projet 1988 – 1998, exhibition at the BnF" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/la-bibliotheque-nationale-de-france-dominique-perrault-portrait-dun-projet-1988-1998-exhibition-bnf> ISSN 1139-6415
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