Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Christian de Portzamparc
Post By:Kitticoon Poopong
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
After two years of construction, the Musée Hergé designed by
Christian de Portzamparc is complete. Situated in a forest and connected by a footbridge to Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, the
museum is dedicated to Belgian artist and
Tintin author Hergé. The museum highlights Hergé’s life and works through cultural facilities, permanent and temporary exhibition areas, and a video projection room.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
“
It was at the close of the exhibition, organized by the
Pompidou Centre about me in 1996, that I met Fanny and Nick Rodwell. They had seen the exhibition, liked it, and wanted to talk to me about their project for the Hergé Museum…Hergé had not only cradled and enchanted my own childhood, but he was also cradling and enchanting the childhood of my children,”
explained de Portzamparc.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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When finding inspiration for the museum, Portzamparc immediately looked to the ideas and figures present in Hergé’s writings. Although it took almost a decade for those images to transfer into an architectural language, the result is a space that richly commemorates the famed author. ”What is clear to me, now that the museum exists, is that there were infinite sources of inspiration for the project,”
explained de Portzamparc.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
The museum is separated from the town, a location Portzamparc found to be advantageous in allowing the visitor to experience and focus on the “four landscape objects”. These four objects are different exhibition areas that illustrate various “kinds of character” through experimenting with form, color and design derived from Hergé’s drawing style. Meandering footbridges link the exhibition spaces while large, comic-strip-like bay windows allow natural light to fill the spaces.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle |
The people
Architects: Christian de Portzamparc
Location: Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Photographs: Nicolas Borel and Hergé/Croix de l’Aigle
