"The Branly banks museum" report
The museum of African, American, Oceanic and Asian arts, that is under construction, is one of the big projects of which the President of the Republic is the instigator. It will group together collections from the national museum of African and Oceanic arts as well as the collection from the ethnological laboratory of the museum of Man. The Branly banks museum has a dual purpose, that of preserving and presenting collections, and that of contributing to research and education.
The Jean Nouvel, Ingérop and OTH building Architectures team won an international architecture competition in December 1999, and, as a result, were entrusted with the task of contracting the whole project (the buildings, gardens and the museographic aspects) in March 2000. At the request of the client, the Branly banks museum public corporation, a system of electronic management of technical documents managed by Prosys and Constructéo, was installed in order to guarantee the quality and the cost of the 40.000 m² presidential project.
It is located in the heart of one of the most prestigious historical quarters of Paris near the esplanade, the "Hôtel des Invalides", the Eiffel Tower, the 'Champs de Mars', the Military Academy and Tokyo Palace. Its surface area, 25.112 m², makes it one of the biggest buildings in all the western part of the 7th arrondissement.
The building comprises four superstructure main bodies on the ground floor : the multimedia library, the administrative block, the museum and the management of collections and, for the infrastructure, there is an auditorium, classrooms, storage areas and a public car park. A 12 m high and 200 m long glass façade creates an acoustic and visual screen with its dense screen printed vegetation. It runs along the Branly banks marking out the main entry for pedestrians and vehicles. This glass screen is the main façade of the museum and it also serves as a newsboard for the museum. The centre building is placed on stilts about ten metres above ground and juts out into the middle of the piece of land in front. It falls in line with the buildings of the President of the Republic, thereby conserving the view across from University Road (rue de l'Université) and from Branly banks (quai Branly).
The height of the main bodies of the building is essentially 21 m, except for the restaurant and the reading room in the multimedia library that are 25 m high, this being the maximum height permitted on this piece of land. The office block comprises 5 storeys. It is completely covered with climbing vine, the end of which is superimposed over the serigraphy glass screen covering up the section built in the cultivated area. The multimedia library is made up of thick concrete floors between which glass plates have been vertically fitted.
The museum is very spacious, 170 m long by 30 to 35 m wide and 9 m high. At each end of the museum there are exhibitions on different topics. In the middle, there is a long shaped mezzanine that will accomodate multimedia areas. Over the big galery there is a terrace open to the public with a panoramic view over the Seine, the Eiffel Tower and the Chaillot ascent (colline de Chaillot). The temporary exhibition areas are situated under the big gallery and look out over the garden by means of a curved glass film. The restaurant is capped with a dome and has been built on the edge of the terrace, thereby having the advantage of a panoramic view. The auditorium, the classroom areas, the discovery workshop, group reception and bar shows, can be found on the ground floor, whereas the Bourdonnais Avenue can be seen from the collection management block. A 18.000 m² garden is on either side of the building, it is open to the surrounding Parisien quarter and can be visited by the public during museum visiting times.
A few figures :
14.000 m² of cofrastra 70 and cofrastra 40 (in composite flooring).
3.000 m² of Hacierco C59 (in formwork).
