BIG, headed by Danish Bjarke Ingels, has recently won a competition with French practice FREAKS freearchitects (which I think is a fantastic name!), to design a new Maison de l’Economie Creative et de la Culture en Aquitaine (MÉCA). The new 12,000 m2 cultural centre will merge the three existing visual and performing arts centres; FRAC, ECLA, and OARA, into one institution facing the riverfront of Bordeaux. The white perforated box of the new complex is arranged around a central public space, open towards the Garonne River, and relating to the waterfront promenade by a continuous loop of performance and film spaces, from the lobby to the sky-lit galleries above. As Bjarke Ingels says; “Not only does the MÉCA spill its activities into the public realm and the urban room, but the public is also invited to walk around, through, above and below the new cultural gateway. By inviting the art into the city and the city into the arts, the MÉCA will provide opportunities for new hybrids of cultural and social life beyond the specific definitions of its constituent parts.”
Images courtesy BIG
