Olivier Debré Contemporary Creative Centre in Tours (37)
Several major projects registered under the CPER (contract of State projects – Region) are in the process of redesigning in depth the mapping of the places of diffusion of the creation in plastic arts in our region. The creation of the Centre de Création Contemporaine – Olivier Debré in Tours is part of, with the FRAC in Orléans, the Tanneries in Amilly, the Rochambeau riding school in Vendôme, these outstanding projects that make the Centre region one of the most dynamic regions in France in the field of visual arts.
Since 10 December 2014 on Centre de Création Contemporaine – Olivier Debré one-faced. The jury of the international architecture competition declared the Portuguese agency of the brothers Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus laureate.
This new cultural equipment with a surface area of about 4500 m2 will not only host the Debré donation but also the current center of contemporary creation with its missions of production, dissemination and exhibition of contemporary creation in all its forms.
It will be built on the current site of Tours of the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-arts and will integrate the building currently occupied by this school. As for the École Supérieure des Beaux-arts, it will join the History of Arts department of the Université François-Rabelais, the École Brassart, as well as a department of the École nationale du Paysage de Versailles, the EPCC Centre Images and association Without Fixed Channel in the buildings of the former MAME Printing House.
Model of the future Olivier Debré Centre
The Aires Mateus project is based on the principle of two separate volumes representing two historical moments:
The existing main volume is preserved and isolated in order to reinforce its symbolic value of belonging to a historical moment. This volume, corresponding to the facade of the now former regional school of fineart, is preserved and its design reaffirmed until it becomes a large autonomous construction with reinforced neoclassical lines and opened permanently on the city thanks to its large bay windows. This first building will receive the large nave particularly suitable for the presentation of works of very large formats, some public functions and the entire management team of the center.
The second building, contemporary construction, separated from the first but connected by a corridor of light, respects the size of the old building that it replaces, while completely redesigning it. Covered with regional white stone, it is a sculpted volume of fulls and voids, specially designed to receive and distribute light in generous and complex spaces.
Its ground floor will host the centre’s contemporary programming, in keeping with what has been and continues to be the programming of the current Centre for Contemporary Creation.
Upstairs, a large volume sculpted on two levels will host La Salle des abstraits. It is conceived as the interpretation centre for the work of painter Olivier Debré and artists of his generation in close resonance with contemporary programming.
The two volumes will be connected by a body of light, transparent and communicating that will receive the public areas and function as a revealing body, hinge between the internal functions in the center, the center and the city.
Initiated in December 2014 (just after the move of the current School of Fine Arts to its new premises planned during the summer), the cccod project - valued at 13.6 million euros - took two years of work.
The DRAC contributed through its expertise and significant financial involvement, alongside other public partners, to the realization of this project. The accompanying work results in a very regular participation in various working groups, technical committees and steering committees. It is also reflected in the start-up of an establishment project which can define the objectives of the structure and the main orientations of its programming.
The CCCOD was officially inaugurated on Friday, March 10, 2017 in the presence of President François Hollande and Queen Sonja of Norway.
-
Image credits: Aires Mateus