In its former lives, this building in Orleans, France was an 18th century detention center, a hospital, and then in 1837, a military supply depot; but now it wears the title of the new FRAC Centre. FRAC stands for Regional Contemporary Art Fund (just let the French sentence structure jumble the letters around and it’ll make sense), and the organization aims to maintain and diffuse a collection of work that is “representative of the tendencies in contemporary art at national and international levels,” as the website says.
The tubulences, as they have been dubbed, of this geometrically asymmetrical-yet-elegant structure draw from the existing lines of the building’s courtyard in order to bring the urban environment and the built space together – to link the existing encompassing buildings into one coherent environment. The panels are made up of hundreds of diodes, which light up in real time based on “climactic data” and “animated scenarios,” which, in plainer terms, means that the aluminum surfaces of the structure light up in patterns relevant to the mood of the surroundings, creating a large-scale outdoor spectacle.
The installment will be available for viewing along with the rest of the collection that will be housed in the former detention center-turned-hospital-turned-military depot. Truly, this new FRAC center will serve as a wonderful amalgamation of historic and contemporary art, space, and thought. The melding of the two aesthetically different styles is very bold, but it works as seamlessly as the lines in the courtyard flow into the tubular formations.
Aug. 29, 2013
Academy of Design Australia
Shenkar
Beckmans College of Design
Parsons
LOFT 42
World Architecture Festival
