Kengo Kuma to renew Michelin museum on industrial site in France

Architecture studio Kengo Kuma and Associates has unveiled plans to renovate and expand French manufacturer Michelin's interactive museum in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Held within an industrial hangar on a former Michelin manufacturing site, the Michelin Adventure museum opened in 2009 and is being updated in line with a wider renewal of the company's manufacturing district, the Quartier des Pistes.

Kengo Kuma and Associates was tasked with updating and extending the museum's distinctive sawtooth-roofed structure, which will see its existing metal frame retained and a new timber structure introduced to preserve its 30-metre-long span.

"The existing building will be completely stripped, retaining only its metallic structure," the studio said. "Engineering lies at the heart of Michelin, and bold technical expression is both essential and intentional."

"In order to preserve the openness of the hangar and its 30-meter-plus span, a timber structural system is introduced," it continued.

"Designed within the existing structural grid, it follows the rhythm of the metal framework."

Renders of the 5,980-square-metre Michelin Adventure museum reveal the existing building's metal structure renewed with glazed openings. It will sit on a greenery-lined plot beside the site's large concrete test tracks.

At the south facade, the angular corrugated roof will be extended with metal canopies, which will shelter an external corridor with entrances to the interior.

Complementing the metal frame, the exterior will be lined with an exposed timber frame, which will be complete with hempcrete infill and a lime-concrete finish.

"The facade is composed of vertical elements set between solid timber columns spaced at 1.95-metre intervals," the studio said.

"Through a process of imprinting, these elements reinterpret the profiles of corrugated metal roof sheeting, giving the facade a distinctly industrial character."

Inside, Michelin Adventure will be arranged across a spacious hall. A circular enclosure will contain a central exhibition space, while other programmes held at the building's periphery will include a shop, events area, offices and cafe.

Renders of the space depict a lofty, well-lit interior complete with wooden elements and grey-toned floors and walls.

Other new elements include full-height glazing at the building's eastern end, where a six-metre-tall sculpture resembling the brand's iconic Bibendum figure will be on display.

Elsewhere, Kazunari Sakamoto has created an art library in a Shanghai museum for fashion house Chanel and ZAO/standardarchitecture has arranged a concrete art gallery around a courtyard in China.

The imagery is by KDSL.

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