Opening, Musée Louvre-LENS by SANAA

SANAA opens tomorrow Louvre's new headquarters in the city of Lens, in the Pas de Calais region in northern France, with a low structure that displays an area of 28,000 m² on land restored from an old coal mine in the town. The project is the result of a competition held in 2005.

Exterior view. Louvre Lens by SANAA. Photography © Iwan Baan.

The building sits within a 20ha site landscaped by Catherine Mosbach, and consists of five main structures made of glass and metal, including the 125m-long Galerie du Temps and a separate auditorium. It will present masterpieces from the Louvre collections in Paris.

SANAA Prizker Prize-winning architect completes outpost for the Louvre in northern France

SANAA has designed a shimmering glass- and metal-clad outpost of the venerable Louvre museum for the town of Lens in northern France. Located on a former minefield, the structure encloses five volumes that will house major works from the Louvre's collection when the museum opens on December 12. Click the image below to view early shots of the nearly complete project.

A sensitive, airy, and fluid design

The chosen design is a model of easily accessible architecture, close to the land, sensitive to its beauty and fragility, and open to nature.

The five main buildings are thus positioned on the site like boats on a river that have delicately floated into a huddle.

The grounds are planned as an integral part of the architectural project. They show the buildings to their best advantage, while the buildings in turn display the grounds through a play of reflections and mirrors on the outer walls. The grounds combine several areas for visitors to discover - a formal garden in front of the museum, clearings and walks through and round the edge of the grounds, natural forest groves in the western part and gardens forming a counterpoint to the woodlands.

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Overview. Photomontage. Louvre Lens by SANAA.

Site plan. Photomontage. Louvre Lens by SANAA.

Outside vision project. Louvre Lens by SANAA.

Interior view project. Louvre Lens by SANAA.

Hall vision project. Louvre Lens by SANAA.

Ground floor plan. Louvre lens by SANAA.

Interior in progress. Louvre Lens by SANAA. Photography © Iwan Baan.

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KAZUYO SEJIMA & RYUE NISHIZAWA. SANAA

Kazuyo Sejima (Ibaraki, Japan, 1956) and Ryue Nishizawa (Kanagawa, Japan, 1966) worked independently from each other before founding the SANAA Ltd. studio in 1995. Having studied architecture at the Japan Women’s University, Sejima went on to work for the renowned architect Toyo Ito. She set up her own studio in 1987 and in 1992 was proclaimed Young Architect of the Year in Japan. Nishizawa studied architecture at the Yokohama National University. In addition to his work with Sejima, he has had his own practice since 1997.

The studio has built several extraordinarily successful commercial and institutional buildings, civic centres, homes and museums both in Japan and elsewhere. These include the O Museum in Nagano (1999) and the N Museum in Wakayama (1997), the Day-Care Center in Yokohama (2000), the Prada Beauty Store in Tokyo and Hong Kong (2001), the Issey Miyake and Christian Dior Building in Tokyo (2003) and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa (2004). Sejima also designed the famous Small House in Tokyo (2000), the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion, Toledo, Ohio (2001-2006), the extension to the Institut Valencia d’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain (2002 – ), the Zollverein School, Essen, Germany (2003-2006), the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2003-2007) and the Novartis Campus WSJ-157 Office Building, Basle, Switzerland (2003 – ).

In 2004 Sejima and Nishizawa were awarded the Golden Lion at the 9th Venice Architecture Biennale for their distinguished work on the Metamorph exhibition.

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa have won the 2010 Pritzker Prize.

The 12th International Architecture Exhibition, was directed by Kazuyo Sejima, the first woman to direct the venice architecture biennale, since its inception in 1980.