Louvre Conservation Center: The Safehouse for Culture and Arts

In France, floods are beginning to exceed normal levels. If this were to go on, paintings and delicate artifacts could be lost to water damage forever. That’s why in Paris, the Musée du Louvre has decided to store historical masterpieces in the Louvre Conservation Center at Liévin.

The center will be holding one-third of the collection from Louvre, with plans to move everything by the middle of 2021. This project was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

Inspired by the concept of military bunkers, they took cues from Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, a French military engineer. It’s as if it was a Bauhaus-era bunker with a few modern enhancements.

The building features a rooftop garden along with huge windows to make way for natural light. It has 6 storage areas designed to accommodate the environment needed to preserve different kinds of art. Project partner John McElgunn said that from an aerial view, the center looks like an elliptical hill in the middle of green parkland. According to him, this building is a modern-day fortress that protects masterpieces by using technology and the landscape.