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Fondation Cartier - Paris
Boulevard Raspail 261, Paris
1993
Located at the boulevard Raspail in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain was created in 1984 by the Cartier SA company.
It is a centre for contemporary art which presents works by established artists and offers younger artists a chance for an exhibition debut. In 1994 the foundation
moved to its new building, designed by Jean Nouvel and located on the site of the former American Center for Students and Artists.
As a delicate structure, consisting of three glass screens, this building takes the idea of dematerialisation to its furthest extreme. The extensive use of glass
and steel results in a building that plays with reflections, refractions and transparencies. The ground floor of the building has a ceiling heigt of about
eight meters and is glassed on all sides. The highly transparent building creates an aesthetic of the absence, and results in an intense relationship
with the surrounding modern woodland garden by Lothar Baumgarten. The vegetation is reflected and refracted in the huge glass panes, blurring the
boundaries of the building and absorbing the environment in a calaidoscopic effect. The building creates rich illusions and changes its appearance with
the change of time (day and night) and weather. The building is considered to be one of the most subtly and innovative designs by Jean Nouvel.
Jean Nouvel was asked to draw up preliminary plans for a new base on the Ile Seguin in 2011. These intentions were abandoned in 2014, instead Jount Nouvel
was commissioned to work on the expansion of the current building.