BOURSE DE COMMERCE
PINAULT COLLECTION

Invited to design the public square and furnishings, exterior and interior, for the new Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection contemporary art museum, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have created a wide-ranging project to define each space. Each arrangement has been used to instil a particular atmosphere within its context and is the result of detailed research and collaboration with a variety of highly skilled manufacturers and craftsmen.

At the very heart of Paris, the Bourse de Commerce was built as a grain exchange in the 18th century and transformed into a commodity exchange in 1889. Today it takes on its 21^st-century guise as the Collection Pinault contemporary art museum, restored and transformed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando (TAAA–Tadao Ando Architect & Associates), NeM / Niney and Marca Architectes, Pierre-Antoine Gatier and Setec Bâtiment.

Inside, the Bouroullecs have ranged widely, from monumental glass lights – horizontal in the entrance hall, and vertical in the historic stairways, to a variety of different furniture and textiles for the various spaces within the new museum.

Of extreme simplicity, the monumental Luce Orizzontale light suspended in the entrance hall brings together the pinnacles of technical skill and craftsmanship. An interlocking structure, the light is composed of five bars of tubular pieces in cast glass and aluminum. Each horizontal bar measures 6 metres and is composed of 30 cylinders of cast glass specially developed by WonderGlass workshops near Venice.