BIG+FREAKS Unveil an Urban Living Room To Serve as MÉCA For Art in Bordeaux

<a href="http://big.dk/" target="_blank">BIG,</a> working in collaboration with Paris-based <a href="http://www.freaksfreearchitects.com/site.html" target="_blank">FREAKS freearchitects</a> has just unveiled their winning proposal for a multi-agency arts center in Bordeaux, France. The MÉCA or Maison de l’Économie Créative et de la Culture en Aquitaine will provide a home for three regional visual and performing arts agencies: FRAC, the ECLA and the OARA in one single institution. Clad in the same limestone that much of the city is built with, the new arts center will become an outdoor urban living room to encourage interaction, community and more time spent out of doors.

Team BIG+FREAKS freearchitects recently were awarded first prize by the Regional Council of Bordeaux to design a new 12 000 m2 cultural center on the riverfront of Bordeaux, merging three cultural institutions into one single building.

The 3-in-1 cultural center will provide space for the visual and performing arts agencies FRAC, the ECLA and the OARA and will replace a series of buildings on the waterfront.

Conceived as a large outdoor urban room the three agencies from an open-air space, which can be used for a performance stage, screening room, and a shared public space for residents to use.

This large open cutout allows passage from the street to the riverfront and beyond and an rooftop deck provides views out over the city.

The three agencies occupy their own space and share the outdoor room, a restaurant and cafe.

The exterior is clad in limestone to bring a sense of continuity with the new and old architecture, which also features the locally-sourced material.

Natural daylight plays a huge roll within the building and permeates through all of the exhibition and office spaces.

Most importantly, the building relies on its integration with the urban fabric and outdoors as both the backdrop for the arts and the centerpiece of the visitor's experience.

Shared common spaces within the MÉCA.

"When a region or a city invests millions in a major new cultural institution - it often ends up benefiting only the informed few that already have an interest in the arts. Not only does the MÉCA spill its activities into the public realm and the urban room, but the public is also invited to walk around, through, above and below the new cultural gateway. By inviting the art into the city and the city into the arts, the MÉCA will provide opportunities for new hybrids of cultural and social life beyond the specific definitions of its constituent parts.” Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG.

Team BIG+FREAKS freearchitecture is aided by dUCKS scéno, Khephren Ingénierie, VPEAS, ALTO Ingénierie, Vincent Hedont, PBNL, Mryk &amp; Moriceau, and Ph.A.

“The urban room is at once a frame for the artwork, a stage for the performances, a screening room for the media collections and most perhaps most importantly an open room for the urban life of Bordeaux to invade and engage with the arts.”, Andreas Klok Pedersen, Partner-in-Charge, BIG.

“The three regional entities composing the program are idiomatic to the French public way of supporting and promoting culture all over the territory. Working on the MÉCA building in Bordeaux is a great occasion to cross views and balance between international references and local issues.” Guillaume Aubry, Cyril Gauthier &amp; Yves Pasquet, Founding Partners, FREAKS freearchitects.