Franco-Brazilian architect Elizabeth de Portzamparc has won a competition to design a museum of Roman history in Nîmes with this building dressed in a pleated glass toga.
The museum will be situated on the edge of the French city’s ancient Roman wall, opposite the famous Roman arenas and amphitheatre.
It will comprise a square volume with a glass mosaic facade that appears to fall in horizontal pleats.
The geometry and lightness of the glass building have been designed to contrast with the rounded stone of the amphitheatre across the square.
The project specifications include the display of the museum’s collection, the landscaping of an archaeological garden and a feasibility study of a congress centre and hotel.
An interior street positioned between the entrance hall and the cafe will lead visitors through to the archaeological garden and will remain accessible even when the museum is closed.
In the middle of the passage a 17-metre-high atrium will provide an introduction to the collection, which numbers over 25,000 items including mosaics from archaeological digs still unseen by the public.
The archaeological garden has been designed by landscaper Régis Guignard from Méristème, with plants corresponding to the pre-Roman, Roman and post-Roman periods to match the museum’s themes.
From the main hall, visitors will climb a winding staircase, arriving on the rooftop terrace with views over the garden and the arenas.
Construction is planned to begin in autumn 2013 and the museum is set to open in early 2017.
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