Narbonne Museum design, Languedoc-Roussillon Architecture by Foster + Partners, New French building images
Musée de la Romanitée Narbonne : Museum Building France
Narbonne Building, southeast France design by Foster + Partners, London, UK
13 Dec 2021
Narbo Via, Narbonne, Languedoc-Roussillon, Occitanie region, southern France
Design: Foster + Partners
photograph : Philippe Chancel
Narbo Via Narbonne
This new museum of Roman antiquities in Narbonne has now opened following an inauguration ceremony.
17 May 2012
Musée de la Romanitée Narbonne
Narbonne Museum, France
Design: Foster + Partners
Location: Languedoc-Roussillon, Occitanie region, southern France
Foster + Partners to design Musée de la Romanitée Narbonne
Following an international competition, Foster + Partners, working with museum designer Adrien Gardere, is designing a new museum for Roman artefacts in the city of Narbonne, southern France.
image : Foster + Partners
As a vital Roman port, Narbonne has an impressive legacy of buildings, ancient relics and archaeological sites. The centrepiece of the museum is a collection of more than 1,000 ancient stone relief funerary blocks excavated nearby.
Their display forms a natural barrier at the heart of the simple, rectilinear building, separating the public galleries from the more private restoration spaces. Visitors will be able to glimpse the work of the archaeologists and researchers through its mosaic of stone and light, and the flexible display framework allows the reliefs to be easily reconfigured and used as an active tool for learning.
image : Foster + Partners
The building incorporates galleries for permanent and temporary exhibitions, a multimedia education centre and library, as well as administration, restoration and storage facilities. These spaces are arranged over a single storey and are unified beneath a concrete roof canopy, which provides thermal mass and contributes to a comprehensive environmental strategy. The canopy is elevated above a clerestory, punctuated with light wells and extends to shade a wide public plaza around the museum.
The Musée de la Romanitée will be a new landmark at the entrance to the city, on a site adjacent to the Canal du Midi – the landscaping reinforces the connection with the water to create a tranquil natural setting and, inspired by formal French gardens and the Roman courtyard, features an amphitheatre for open-air displays and events.
Spencer de Grey, Senior Partner and Head of Design at Foster + Partners:
“We have been inspired by the setting, by Narbonne’s climate and by the city’s fascinating collection of Roman artefacts. The gardens will strengthen the connection with the canal and surroundings, and at their heart will be a simple, energy efficient museum building. All of the internal and even some external walls can be rearranged – its flexibility mirrors the live excavation site, a shelter to accommodate the exploration within.”
Musée de la Romanitée Narbonneimages / information from Foster + Partners
Location: Narbonne, Occitanie region, southern France, western Europe
New Buildings in France
French Architectural Projects
French Architecture Design – chronological list
French Architecture Offices – design firm listings
Paris Architecture Walking Tours by e-architect
French Museum Buildings
Museum Building Designs in France – Selection
Musée des Beaux-arts Reims, northeast France
Design: X-TU Architects
image from architects
Musée des Beaux-arts Reims
Lille Metropole museum
Design: Manuelle Gautrand
photo : Max Lerouge
Lille Metropole museum
Musée du quai Branly, Paris
Design: Jean Nouvel Architect
Musée du quai Branly
Paladru Archaeology Museum and Park
Design: Hérault Arnod Architectes
Paladru Archaeology Museum
Buildings by Foster + Partners in France – Selection
Marseille Vieux Port Masterplan, southern France
Marseille Vieux Port Masterplan
Millau Viaduct
Millau Viaduct
Carré d’Art Building
Carre d’Art Nimes
Zenith Saint-Etienne Building
Zenith Saint-Etienne Building
Comments / photos for the Narbonne Museum building design by Foster + Partners in France page welcome