Institut du Monde Arabe
(7 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Location:
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11 Rue des Fossés Saint Bernard
Place Mohammed V
Paris
CEDEX 05
France
coordinates:
48.8489685 2.3573291
Building names(s): Institut du Monde Arabe / AWI
Architect/Designer:
Jean Nouvel
architect website:
Other Information:
Completion date: 1987
Function:
website: www.imarabe.orggetting there:
metro: cosest metro stops are Jessieu, cardinal-Lemoine, Sully Morland
Take the Metro lines 10 or 7 to Jussieu. Walk west on rue Jussieu, then north – towards to the Seine – on rue des Fosses St Bernard.
bus: 24, 63, 67, 86, 87, 89
opening hours: Tuesday – Sunday 10:00-18:00, closed monday
Costs: Euro for Museum Entry (Entry is for 1.5 hours only)
Last update: 3 June, 2009 | Suggested By zoran
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
Nouvel produces a wonderfully minimal composition of forms: a gently curving wall to the north facing the Seine comes to a sharp and deep cleft as it meets a rectilinear block which faces a large open plaza and the university buildings to the south. Most notable, as we would expect from Nouvel, is the surface treatment. Along the south facade the IMA reinterprets traditional Arab latticework screens in glass and steel: 30,000 light-sensitive diaphragms are designed to regulate the penetration of light into the building.
The unique use of high-tech photosensitive mechanical devices to control light levels and transparency—as well as the beauty of the solution—made this building famous and piqued interest in the use of ‘smart’ materials (which can respond to changing environments) in buildings. The problem: the system no longer works. Nonetheless, the south facade is quite beautiful. The striking south facade and the carefully orchestrated sequence between the entrance onto the plaza and the entrance of the building set up interesting scale relationships.