The Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection

The Bourse de Commerce, the new François Pinault museum created by Tadao Ando, was opened in May 2021 after a series of postponements caused by the Covid19 pandemic.  This new site, that follows the Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi in Venice, exhibits a total of about 200 works by 32 artists. 
The museum is located in the heart of Paris. It covers an area of 10,000 square metres and includes an auditorium that seats 300 people, special project rooms and a black box gallery in the basement for film and audio artworks. 
The restoration project was entrusted to Tadao Ando Architect and Associates along with Pierre-Antoine Gatier and the NeM (Lucie Niney and Thibault Marca) studio.
All the renovations made meticulously respect the history of this space. The Bourse de Commerce, in fact, is a historical monument that was built on the foundations of an eighteenth century wheat exchange, and then became a general trade centre in the nineteenth century. In 2021, the space was reopened to the public, following Tadao Ando’s splendid restoration that duplicated the building’s circular structure. At the centre of the construction, there is a now a vast concrete cylinder - the Japanese architect’s favourite material - with glass fittings that provide access to the space and highlight the existing frescoes, while also creating a sense of consistency with the iron and glass used for the dome.
The organisation of the visitor trails and the creation of a flexible and adaptable display space that can exhibit the wide variety of genres characteristic of contemporary art, were the main challenges of converting the Bourse de Commerce into a museum.

iGuzzini illuminazione worked closely together with the Ingelux studio, who designed specific lighting systems in terms of both the quantity of natural and artificial light and the reception and exhibition areas. For the latter, Ingelux designed a permanent but flexible lighting system with a series of luminaires that can be activated to suit different exhibition layouts. 
Laser Blade series luminaires have therefore been located in the large reception area, auditorium and several visitor relaxation areas, furnished with sofas. These include the Petit Salon on the third floor that also offers splendid views over the museum’s central rotunda and the roofs of the new Les Halles complex and Paris, in general. In all these environments, minimal recessed luminaires from the Laser Blade (10 to 15 cells) and Laser Blade XS series (2 to 5 cells) have been fitted into the concrete. The Petit Salon, on the other hand, is lit by special, track-mounted Laser Blade luminaires. And track-mounted 10 cell Laser Blade luminaires have also been used to create a chessboard effect on the ceiling of the auditorium.