Issue No. 21

Left, the atelier of Henri Bouchard, recreated from
his original studio in Paris; above left La Piscine
in the 1930s, above right, La Piscine today
La Piscine had been left neglected for
several years and a public contest was
held for architects to come up with a
design for the space. In 1994 the winner
was chosen - Jean-Paul Phlippon, already
famous for his conversion of the former
Gare d’Orsay in Paris into the stunning
Musée d’Orsay in 1979 (voted world’s top
museum by Trip Advisor Traveller Choice
Awards 2018) and the Musée des Beaux
Arts, Quimper, Brittany in 1993.
Philippon’s plans for La Piscine centred
around keeping the integrity and
authenticity of the much-loved swimming
pool. “I wanted to keep the basin of water”
he says - and it is now the heart of the
museum. “But I narrowed it to make room
for the artworks. I created pontoons
alongside with ceramic lining created from
the original elaborate mosaics. Thousands
and thousands of tiny pieces were all
carefully preserved. Some of the original
changing rooms were kept, others were
dismantled. It was like a giant Lego game
putting all the pieces together and
reconstructing it”.
In 2001 the council allocated a former
textile factory building to be part of the
museum as well, one of the original walls
still stands as a memorial to the old
building after part of it was demolished to
let light in. It is, says Philippon, one of his
favourite aspects. “In my design, I wanted
people to be able to circulate easily and to
see the collection as it should be seen, it
was an important aspect of the museum”.