Building of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Budget of France
(Ministère de l'Economie, des Finances et du Budget)
12th arrondissement of Paris, Bercy quarter
Architects: Paul Chemetov, Borja Huidobro
Years of construction: 1984-1989
Total area: 226,000 m2
The reign of French President François Mitterrand (1981-1995) in the field of architecture is associated with a series of his "Big Projects", among which are many of the iconic buildings of Paris: the new complex of the National Library, the Opera Bastille, the Louvre Pyramid, the Institute of the Arab World, the Grand Arch of La Defense; at the same time, the La Villette park was created, and the Orsay station was turned into a museum of the same name.
The construction of a new building for the Ministry of Finance was associated with the eviction of its departments from the Louvre in order to expand the museum: the 1989 World Exhibition was being prepared. The choice of a site for new construction in the south-east of the city, in the 12th arrondissement, was due to the idea of a more even distribution of administrative offices in Paris: most of them are still located in the more prestigious western quarters. The president's strict timeline called for the construction and commissioning of new buildings in five years.
The architectural competition was announced in 1982: two sites on the banks of the Seine were allocated for the main buildings of the Ministry. Of the 137 proposed projects, four reached the final. The "Republican Palace of Control over the State Treasury" by Paul Shemetov and Borzhi Uidobro, recognized as the best option, was the answer to the task of the competition - to create "a project that can leave its mark on architectural aesthetics and modern urban planning."
The concept of the building is based on the images of the viaduct and the monumental portal. On the one hand, it forms a kind of entrance gate to eastern Paris, which "was always lacking": it was along the construction site that the fortress wall passed in the 18th century. On the other hand, it echoes the rhythm of the Bercy Bridge, achieving a cinematic effect when looking at the facade from a subway car.
According to Paul Shemetov, the building “should have existed relative to the river,” but the site's configuration did not allow the classical location parallel to the Seine to be applied. In response to this restriction, the architects resorted to "a river metaphor: the building takes the form of a bridge, in which only the last support goes under the water." It is noteworthy that all buildings located along the banks of the Seine in Paris from the Palais Chaillot to the Botanical Gardens face the river, and the Ministry of Finance is the only example of an arrangement perpendicular to the axis of the river.
The main building, 370 meters long, is a series of arches with multiple spans. The first and the last, 70 meters each, "step over" the street Bercy and the highway, respectively. One of them connects the main building with the adjacent building; the second goes with its front supports into the Seine, sinking 45 meters. “The only way to recognize the presence of a building on the river is to stand in it with your feet, not to be fenced off by the road. The route passing along the river bank is a mistake, and we shamed it to some extent,”explained Paul Shemetov.
For the construction, a module of 90x90 cm was chosen, which was also used in the improvement of 3 hectares of the adjacent garden. Three modules are the height of the ceilings in the offices of the Ministry, four modules are the height from floor to floor. Concrete, steel, glass, wood, marble and, most importantly, stone façade elements also follow this modular grid. The use of natural stone in the exterior cladding of the building "enhances the traditional image of the bridge and emphasizes the social significance of the building, which gets even greater monumentality due to the enlarged window openings."
Inside, the building is a real micro-city: a post office, five restaurants for employees, three cafes, a nursery for 120 children, a gym, as well as landscaped terraces, fountains, galleries, bridges connecting different parts of the ensemble provide everything necessary for 5000 employees of the Ministry of Finance.
The layout of office premises is designed for the programmatic evolution of space and the redistribution of the Ministry's services over the years: movable partitions, utilities located in the thickness of suspended ceilings, portable slats with built-in batteries. The modular system has also penetrated into the internal layout: the number of modules allocated to each specific office is determined by the place of its inhabitants in the administrative hierarchy.
The dimensions of the building made it necessary to automate the messaging system within the Ministry, which has not lost its relevance even today, the dominance of e-mail: for the first time in France, it is here that the télédoc system distributes every day 5 tons of letters and documents in metal boxes on 9-kilometer rails.
The architects managed to fit into the construction budget promised in 1982: a square meter cost as much as two square meters of social housing. Thus, the total cost of the project was 2.9 billion francs in 1984 prices, that is, about 450 million euros. “We tried to reduce costs, looked for ways to maximize savings, but at the same time, each generation should leave a visible trace of the creations of architects on the land of our country,” Finance Minister Pierre Beregovoy commented on the topic of construction costs in 1985.
In accordance with the law on 1% of the budget for the construction of public buildings, which is spent on works of art - commissioned or purchased works of contemporary artists, in the Ministry of Finance you can see works of more than 30 authors, including paintings by Matta, Pierre Alechinsky, sculptures by Cesar and Bourdelle, wall panels by Pierre Soulages.
The building is open to visitors on Heritage Days - the third weekend in September. At other times, a free tour can be booked on the Ministry's website.
