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It has been nicknamed Notre-Dame des Tuyaux—Our Lady of the Pipes—and still divides opinion 47 years after it first opened. In the runup to its half century, at an age when buildings often begin to obsolesce, Paris’s Centre Pompidou—the avant-garde museum and cultural center designed by Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, et al. in 1971—will close for a total overhaul. Built for an age that knew nothing of global warming, and that was less safety-stringent than today, the one-million-square-foot edifice will be brought up to 21st-century environmental and fire-security standards, and at the same time rearranged and refurbished with the aim of “reinventing this extraordinary utopia,” as Centre Pompidou president Laurent Le Bon put it at a press conference last week. After closing to the public in September 2025, the building is expected to reopen in the first quarter of 2030.

Rendering of café at the Forum, the main interior public space at the center. Image courtesy Moreau Kusunoki in association with Frida Escobedo Studio

It was Le Bon’s predecessor, Serge Lasvignes, who launched the process in 2018, when he organized a competitive consultation for the modernization of the Pompidou’s envelope and systems. “We were asked to work on two scenarios: overhauling an occupied or an empty building,” says Adrien Paporello of engineering and architecture firm AIA Life Designers, who won the bid in March 2021. “For reasons of time, cost, and safety, closing the structure was the preferred option. Initially the idea was simply to upgrade, with work scheduled to complete this year, just before the Olympic Games.” That choice was called into question by Le Bon, appointed in June 2021, who felt it would be a missed opportunity not to rethink the building’s organization too. After 80 international teams responded to his May 2023 competition announcement, Le Bon and his jury (which included Renzo Piano) selected six finalists, among whom were Aires Mateus, Kuehn Malvezzi, Lacaton & Vassal, and Dominique Perrault. Announced at last week’s press conference, the winning team comprises Franco-Japanese firm Moreau Kusunoki (cofounded by Nicolas Moreau and Hiroko Kusunoki) with Mexican architect Frida Escobedo and AIA.

Rendering of meazzanine level facing north. Image courtesy Moreau Kusunoki in association with Frida Escobedo Studio

On the technical side, the revamp aims to reduce the building’s energy consumption by 40 percent through replacement of the glass envelope and the heating and cooling systems. “Right now, cooled and heated air are mixed to obtain the desired temperature, and the entire building is conditioned so you could hang a Monet anywhere inside it,” explains Paporello. Instead, more economical techniques will be installed, and each floor’s air treated according to its program—as well as the National Museum of Modern Art (MNAM), the eight-level Pompidou contains two libraries, a shop, a restaurant, a café, and a cinema, among other uses. To avoid costly future refits, the new system will be adaptable, meaning that if a floor’s program changes it can easily be connected to the appropriate heating and cooling units. The smoke-extraction system must also be replaced, and the entire building rewired, which AIA sees as an opportunity to render maintenance easier, since Piano and co.’s decision to place all the building’s services outside, rising up the east facade, has not made for simple repair. “For example, to change local wiring, you find yourself dangling 30 feet up in the air trying to unbolt a 110-lb metal cover,” says Paporello. “Access to certain cables will therefore be brought inside.” The refit is complicated by the fact that the facades and smoke-extraction system contain asbestos, a major factor in the decision to close the building for construction.

Axonometeric drawing of Centre Pompidou renovation. Image courtesy Moreau Kusonoki; Click to enlarge

Where the reorganization is concerned, several major changes are proposed. The Bibliothèque Kandinsky—a specialist research library—will move out of level three and into the Pavillon Brancusi, a separate building at the foot of the Centre Pompidou that was completed by Piano in 1997 to house the contents of sculptor Constantin Brancusi’s studio. Under-visited in its current location, Brancusi’s bequest will move into the main building, where the MNAM’s permanent hang will remain on levels four and five. The Kandinksy’s departure will permit expansion of the Bibliothèque Publique d’Information (BPI), the huge and very popular open-access public library on levels two and three. Major alterations are also planned for the ground floor, the lower-ground floor, and the basement, with a new youth-oriented section at the building’s northern end, and expanded visitor areas below, which will take over what is currently backstage space as well as the underground parking area for buses. As a result of the reorganization, 71,000 publicly accessible square feet will be added to the current offer, including a viewing platform to be installed on the Pompidou’s roof.

“The competition brief asked for certain skills, like interior design, and it seemed clear they were expecting a team,” says Moreau about his firm’s decision to join forces with Escobedo, who is currently working on the new modern wing at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. “I appreciate Frida’s way of looking at societal issues, and the fact that her work is never loud,” adds Kusunoki. “We also like to do the minimum necessary, in order to leave space for life.” Transparency, accessibility, and openness are the team’s watchwords, with plans to establish visual connections with the outside world on both the northern and eastern elevations, which today are rather opaque, and to open up the southern end, where the shop and ground-floor restaurant will be grouped, so it connects with the surrounding sidewalks. The team also intends to modify the monumental piazza, adding stone bleachers at the northern end and a wheelchair ramp at the southern. Escobedo will focus particularly on interiors and the refurbishment of the BPI, favoring metallic, reflective finishes to bring light into the building’s deep plan in a way that won’t compete with its celebrated color code—blue for air ducts, green for water pipes, yellow for electric cables, and red for escalators and elevators.

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Plans including expanding the current public library (1) and creating a children's center (2). Images courtesy Moreau Kusunoki in association with Frida Escobedo Studio

Surprisingly, given France’s penchant for heritage protection, not to mention the building’s importance in the history of architecture, the Centre Pompidou is not landmarked. But French copyright laws mean that the original architects can dispute changes, and Piano has been given oversight on everything that will be done. Even more than the reorganization, it is the technical aspects of the overhaul that could alter the building’s image, so much is it tied to the mechanics used to fit it out. “We try to recycle as much as possible,” says Paporello, “and when new technology must be introduced, we provide several options, from the most radical to the most conservative in terms of appearance.” Perhaps paradoxically, given the futuristic image the competition design projected back in 1971, Piano has generally selected the more conservative choices, he says.

Rendering of the Agora at Centre Pompidou. Image courtesy Moreau Kusunoki in association with Frida Escobedo Studio

Rendering of Pavillon Brancusi, which will be the future site of Bibliothèque Kandinsky, currently locate on level three of the main complex. Image courtesy Moreau Kusunoki in association with Frida Escobedo Studio

At the time of writing, the big unknown is whether there will be enough cash for the project. The culture ministry has promised to pay for the technical side—although, if there’s a radical change of government after the July 7 elections, that could be called into question—but has asked the Centre Pompidou to raise the remaining $200 million. So far, says Le Bon, they’ve reached the halfway stage.