The Bourse de Commerce: From the "Queen's Mansion" to a Contemporary Art Museum

by Vincent Noce

Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, Niney & Marca Architectes, Agence Pierre-Antoine Gatier. Photo: Marc Domage

The Bourse de Commerce—the former commodities exchange—is a Roman-style incongruity situated in the heart of Paris between the Louvre and Les Halles, with a history closely entwined with that of the French royal family and a strategic district. Its five-year restoration has preserved the feel of the monument to a remarkable degree. While using his vocabulary of gray tones bathed in zenithal lighting, architect Tadao Ando has proved his talent for inserting ambitious architecture into an existing envelope. "Rather like a Russian doll," as he says,... read more

The Bourse de Commerce: From the "Queen's Mansion" to a Contemporary Art Museum

Initially scheduled for January 23, the opening of the Pinault collection's new flagship museum in the former Paris Bourse de Commerce building had been delayed by the lockdown. We examined the architecture of this structure rooted in history.

by Vincent Noce