The smallest project. Hyperbolic Paraboloid Tent for the Parc de la Villette by Bernard Tschumi Architects
02/02/2022.
[PAR] France Francia
metalocus, CARLOS GONZÁLEZ
metalocus, CARLOS GONZÁLEZ
Project description by Bernard Tschumi Architects
In conjunction with the opening of spaces for circus arts located in the northwest of the Parc de la Villette (1982-1998), Bernard Tschumi Architects designed a ticket tent situated on the podium of Folie L4 (originally a music venue). The tent needed to have an iconic presence and meet strict functional and budgetary requirements, while taking into account contextual constraints.
How to approach a project to extend an existing historical building, designed by oneself, with landmark status, without altering it? According to Bernard Tschumi’s specifications from the 1980’s, all additional elements had to be able to be added or removed without interfering with the original structure. For example, the hyperbolic paraboloid of the tent was conceived so as not to interfere with the megabeam of the existing Folie.
Irmarfer, a company specializing in custom tents, carried out the project following instructions by Bernard Tschumi Architects. The primary materials are a durable architectural PTFE membrane and transparent polycarbonate for the vertical envelope. BTA also provided the typographic design for the screenprinted pattern on the exterior.
The HyperTent is the smallest project ever carried out by Bernard Tschumi Architects.
Bernard Tschumi (1944) is Principal of Bernard Tschumi Architects, New York and Paris. A theorist, author, educator, and architect, he is known for books including The Manhattan Transcripts and Architecture and Disjunction and built projects including the Parc de la Villette, the Acropolis Museum, Le Fresnoy Center for the Contemporary Arts, and the Vacheron-Constantin Corporate Headquarters, among others.
Tschumi was awarded France’s Grand Prix National d’Architecture in 1996 as well as numerous awards from the American Institute of Architects and the National Endowment for the Arts. He is an international fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in England and a member of the Collège International de Philosophie and the Académie d’Architecture in France, where he has been the recipient of distinguished honors that include the rank of Officer in both the Légion d’Honneur and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects.
A graduate of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Tschumi has taught architecture at a range of institutions including the Architectural Association in London, Princeton University, and The Cooper Union in New York. He was dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University from 1988 to 2003 and is currently a professor in the Graduate School of Architecture.
Tschumi’s work has been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam, the Pompidou Center in Paris, as well as other museums and art galleries in the United States and Europe.