Centre Pompidou closes for five-year renovation, reopening in 2030

The Centre Pompidou in Paris closed on March 10, 2025, for a comprehensive renovation that will keep it shuttered until 2030. The project, costing €460 million, is funded by €280 million from the French state and €180 million from private sources, with €100 million already raised. The renovation is led by Franco-Japanese firm Moreau Kusunoki, Mexican architect Frida Escobedo, and AIA Life Designers. The museum will receive official Historic Monument status in 2026, a rare designation for a building whose architect, Renzo Piano, is still alive. The closure was marked by the largest-ever retrospective of Wolfgang Tillmans, titled 'Nothing could have prepared us – Everything could have prepared us,' spanning 6,000 square meters. The renovation aims to remove asbestos, replace damaged facades, improve energy efficiency, and eliminate architectural barriers. Interior spaces will be reorganized for clarity and transparency, including the piazza, Atelier Brancusi, Forum, Agora, Public Information Library, and exhibition galleries. The rooftop will become a public viewpoint. The project is based on participatory design involving visitors, artists, researchers, and staff. Four guiding principles—physical and visual porosity, clarity of pathways, activation and requalification of spaces, and dialogue with the existing—will guide the transformation. The Centre Pompidou, designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers and inaugurated in 1977, will reopen in 2030 as a 'city within a city.'