architecture now and The Future: CONSERVATION CENTRE FOR THE MUCEM BY VEZZONI & ASSOCIÉS

The MuCEM will have at its disposal the Centre for Conservation and Resources located in the Belle de Mai district, near the Saint-Charles railway station.

Designed by architect Corinne Vezzoni and born of a public-private partnership, it will house, over 13,000 m², all of the reserve collections of the museum as well as its documentary holdings, library and scientific archives.

The facility will be open to heritage professionals, researchers and students. The general public will also be able to visit part of the reserve collection.

The first objective of the centre is, of course, to support the principal missions of the museum: to store, preserve, study, document, maintain and develop the collections.

To this end it will offer modern storage facilities meeting the standards for preventative conservation, workshops for preparation and restoration, a photography studio and an anoxic chamber for treatment to prevent the risk of infestations...

Beyond these essential functions, the centre aims to become a living space, a real tool for the enhancement and dissemination of the collections through an active policy of loans and deposits. It will also be a working tool for researchers and students by making entire collections and holdings of the MuCEM accessible.

The proposed Conservation Centre for the MUCEM (Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations) reserves fits uncompromisingly and compactly into the site among the nearby industrial buildings.

With the same floor area (72×72 m) as the MUCEM, the Conservation Centre integrates the notion of thickness. Unlike the museum which displays what is to be seen, the centre houses what is not to be seen: in other words, the museum’s reserves which, like a secret, are kept hidden behind the scenes. Natural light enters through the carved-out core of this rock-like, rough-cast concrete monolith.