SITE VERRIER
Cultural center
SITE VERRIER
Cultural center
Hidden in the bucolic landscape of Northern Vosges Natural Park, in the northeastern region of France, Site Verrier de Meisenthal is an active cultural center in a historic glass factory dating back to the 18th century. Our intervention defines a contemporary institutional identity in dialogue with an industrial heritage.
Site Verrier is a publicly funded project composed of three independent yet interrelated institutions: the glass museum (Musée du Verre et du Cristal) – a living memory tracing the history of glass at the site; the CIAV (Centre International d’Art Verrier) – an international glass art center where traditional craftsmanship meets contemporary practices, and the Cadhame (Halle Verrière) – a multidisciplinary cultural space hosting art installations, happenings and concerts.
The design of Site Verrier alludes to glass production with an undulating poured-in-place concrete surface. This surface functions as roof, ceiling and wall, connecting the site’s buildings and framing a public plaza. New functions are sensitively introduced under and over this surface, including offices, workshop areas, a cafe and restaurant, and a 500-seat black box theater that can be reconfigured as a theater with standing room for 700 or a concert hall for 3,000. This new public space heightens civic awareness of the historical site and also introduces a highly flexible space to host outdoor theater, concerts, and seasonal festivities.
