JEAN COCTEAU MUSEUM DESIGN BY RUDY RICCIOTTI
JEAN COCTEAU MUSEUM DESIGN BY RUDY RICCIOTTI
Selected in 2008 as the winning design from an international field
of entries in a competition launched by the town Menton in 2007, the
architectural project of Rudy Ricciotti, the 2006 winner of France’s Gran Prix
National d’Architecture, covers a total area of 2,700 sqm able to house all of
the works donated by Severin Wunderman.
Although limited in some aspects, the site has great potential. Its
features include a pre-existing parking garage on the first subterranean level
and a purification plant on the second subterranean level with their access
ramps bisecting the site, a sea-level aquifer, backfill soil, sea spray
exposure, etc. Stresses in the immediate vicinity include a noisy coastal urban
thorough fare.
The site is also not neutral in its impact. It will strengthen the
relationship between the town’s centre and its seafront, as substructure
ensuring the resilience of the existing urban landscape. The building must be
in keeping with Menton’s urban fabric and character, helping to return the Quai
Monléon to pedestrian use. Setting aside the disquieting vision of the
archways, depicted in old picture postcards, the virtues of Menton as a seaside
resort must be retained.
Photographs: Agence Rudy Ricciotti, Lisa Ricciotti, Olivier Amsellem
‘’ The choice of architectural materials for this project, and
especially its black-and‐white aesthetic, was unavoidable. The realm of dreams
and mystery, the starkness of contrasts and the interweaving of shadows
ultimately reflect the contradictions in Cocteau's life and work.
Black and white no longer serve as colors here. Rather, they create
an interplay of structural forces calling to mind both the artist's works on
paper and the poet's personality, his zones of light and darkness, his
enigmatic self-mythology fueled by contrasts. ‘’
Rudy
Riccotti
RUDY RICCIOTTI
