The Carrousel du Louvre

Paris, France

Client

UNIBAIL-RODAMCO

Project team

Architect: WILMOTTE & ASSOCIÉS
Executive Project Supervisor: CABINET IVANCICH
Facade: DVVD
Building services: BATI TECH
Lighting: INGELUX CONSULTANTS

Surface area

11 500 sqm

Year

2016

Program

Renovation of the Carrousel du Louvre, opened in 1993.

To give the Carrousel du Louvre a new lease of life, Wilmotte & Associés designed a project to give it a new visibility from the outside, to create a unity of place and visit in the extension of the Louvre Museum, to enhance the value of excellent signs, to modernise and fluidify the visitor's path, and to reinforce the luminosity and interior legibility of the place.

The course has been redesigned in the manner of an exhibition, punctuating it with works that welcome visitors from the metro corridors to the centre’s key spaces, and installing majestic chandeliers. The Carrousel du Louvre becomes a preamble to the collections presented in the Louvre. Brightness, legibility and the right proportions in the different spaces and accesses have been brought back. The former aisles have been replaced by more intimate volumes and a warmer atmosphere, created by the use of copper colours and materials.

The crystal façade, the new emblem of the Carrousel, is composed of an assembly of ten horizontal pyramids, inspired by the structure of Pei’s work. A fragmented vision of the inverted glass pyramid, this new entrance calls for the discovery of the site. A clear architectural gesture, offering a spectacular dynamic vision, while composing with the classicism of the Louvre.