The famous Caen Museum was built in 1972, but by the end of the 80s its spaces were no longer enough to accommodate the growing collection, and the trustees thought about new construction. But it took another 20 years before they settled on Renzo Piano, who has long become the most popular architect for museum construction in the United States. Customers considered his project quite "respectful" in relation to the masterpiece of Louis Kahn, and now it has been brought to life.
The two buildings are separated by a lawn: according to Piano, they are located "close enough for conversation" - at a distance of 60 m. The new pavilion faces the main façade of Kahn's building on the western side, also the main side: it is made up of two concrete blocks of exhibition halls and a glazed vestibule between them. The ceiling is supported by 30-meter twin laminated Douglas fir planks that protrude from the walls and rest on concrete columns to set the rhythm and echo the "portico" of the main building.
In addition to wood and steel, the roof is formed by sheets of fritted glass and solar panels, as well as aluminum blinds open with slots to the north. In the interior, they are complemented by light-scattering fabric screens. The floors are made of oak wood. The northern of the two rooms is intended for temporary exhibitions, the southern one is for permanent exhibition, while Caen's building is now completely devoted to works from the museum collection.
Hidden behind the first building of the Piano Pavilion is the second one, almost completely sunk into the ground and covered with an exploited green roof (1,784 m2): there is an exhibition hall for light-sensitive exhibits and an auditorium with 299 seats, where a light well serves as a backdrop to the stage. There are also premises for the educational program of the museum.
Renzo Piano's building is clearly inspired by Kahn's work as a whole, while she directly cites elements of the neighboring building: in addition to the "colonnade", it is a three-part composition of the plan and facade and the extensive use of concrete. In total (9 395 m2 versus 11 148 m2 in the Caen building), and in terms of exhibition area (about 1500 m2 versus 2,044 m2), it is comparable to the main building of the museum. The project budget, which amounted to $ 135 million, also included a thorough restoration of the Kahn building and the construction of an underground garage for 135 cars, which returned primacy to the main entrance to the main building: leaving the parking lot, visitors find themselves right in front of it, and before, most preferred to use the side, secondary entrance.
The green space of the museum campus was also renewed, covering 1.62 hectares of the available 3.84 hectares (including the green roof of the Piano pavilion). Restoring the situation in the early 1970s, Michael Morgan Landscape Architecture has planted an alley of elms between the buildings, and red oaks and holly have also appeared there.
