Vue de la tour d'exposition du bâtiment du 9, rue du Plâtre © Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti

The Building

Located in a 19th century industrial building of 2, 200 m2, Lafayette Anticipations is a place for creation, innovation and research. The renovation project is led by architect Rem Koolhaas and his firm, OMA.

The seven story industrial building, characteristic of the end of the 19th century, is structured in a U-shape around a courtyard. The building can be crossed freely, thus leading to the rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie via a covered passage. The architectural intervention manages to articulate two seemingly contradictory conditions: the desire for programmatic flexibility and the respect of strict and mandatory preservation rules. The building is the laureate of the "prix spécial du jury de l'Equerre d'argent 2018".

A Curatorial Machine

An “exhibition tower” equipped with four mobile platforms is inserted into the building’s courtyard. These motorized platforms can move independently along rails and align with the existing floors.

With each exhibit, these innovative platforms allow the space to be reconfigured in 49 different ways. These multiple arrangements instil verticality, flexibility and adaptability, as required by numerous current and future projects. The building offers 875 m² of exhibition space. This curatorial machine completes another fundamental component of the Fondation: its production workshop situated in the building’s basement. Here, pieces are conceived and created by guest artists. The simultaneous use of these two structural features foster the creation of unique projects, with their own spatial configuration.

Mobile floors animation © OMA

Key Figures

2, 200 m2: surface area
875 m2: exhibition surface area
350 m2: production workshop
19 m: height of exhibition tower
50 m2: large mobile floor
25 m2: small mobile floor
49 different floor configurations

19th Century Heritage

Built for François-Xavier Ruel’s BHV in 1891 by architect Samuel Mejot de Dammartin, the 9 rue du Plâtre is an industrial building with an elegant façade. First used as a warehouse, it went on to serve as a reparation shop for straw hats (a BHV specialty), then as a dispensary, a girls’ school and, more recently, as a higher-education preparatory school.