The Pompidou Center, whose bold inside-out architecture and museum of modern art has made it one of Paris’ main cultural attractions, will close for renovations from late 2023 to 2027, France’s culture minister said on Monday.
The center, opened in 1977, is notable for the way its architects, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, moved many of the building’s structural and mechanical elements to its exterior, which is filled with color-coded water pipes, air ducts conditioning and a caterpillar-shaped escalator winding through its facade.
But it has had physical problems before – it was closed in 1997 for renovations that took a few years – and lately it has shown signs of aging. Roselyne Bachelot, France’s Minister of Culture, told Le Figaro newspaper that she faced two options: trying to keep the Pompidou Center open during the works, which would then take longer, or allowing it to remain completely closed for the time being.
“I chose the second because it should be shorter and a little cheaper,” she said.
Authorities have now said that many components of the building, once seen as a shocking shock of modernity in the imposing heart of Paris, are at the end of their useful lives – including an old-fashioned heating and cooling system, escalators and elevators that break and asbestos that must be removed – reported Le Figaro. The newspaper reported that the renovations could cost € 200 million, or about $ 243 million.
The center warned in September that it would face a full closure for three years, starting in 2023, or a partial closure for seven years, to allow for repairs.
The last time the building was closed for renovations was during its 20th anniversary, in 1997, when it was closed for a three-year renovation that increased the exhibition space available inside. But no major work has been done on the building since it opened in 1977, Center Pompidou president Serge Lasvignes told Le Figaro in September.
Although the building is now widely appreciated, it was met with shock and criticism when it was being built and when it opened. Piano later laughed that he and Rogers were “boys, really young and quite bad boys” in 1971, when they won the contest to design it. Rogers later recalled that a passerby hit him with an umbrella when he learned that he was one of his designers.
In addition to the art museum, the building contains a large public library and a center for musical and acoustic research.
A quarter of a century ago, when the center was preparing to close for these major renovations, the need for repairs generated unflattering comments about the quality of modern architecture and engineering in a city full of churches, palaces and museums that date back hundreds of years. . French officials said at the time that the center became a victim of its own success, attracting far more visitors than was designed.
Shortly after the reopening of the Pompidou Center following these reforms in 2000, Piano jokingly suggested to The New York Times that the center close every 25 years so that its function could be rethought. It turns out he was not far off.