Dominique Perrault Retrospective at Centre Pompidou

The Centre Pompidou in Paris presents a major exhibition on architect Dominique Perrault, running from June 11 to September 22, 2008. Curated by Frédéric Migayrou, the show was assembled in under six months. Perrault, born in Clermont-Ferrand in 1953, founded his firm in 1981 and won the international competition for the Bibliothèque nationale de France in 1989, earning the Mies van der Rohe Prize in 1997. The exhibition features fifty projects, about thirty of which will be realized within five years. It is organized in three sequences: historical works like the BnF and models of the Centre Pompidou and Frac Centre; current projects; and international works. Notable projects include the Mariinsky II Theatre in Saint Petersburg, the Tour de la Recherche in Padua (a 90,000 m² tower with a photovoltaic copper and steel skin), the Place Garibaldi redevelopment in Naples (including a metro station and underground network), the La Liberté housing and offices in Groningen (20,000 m² with mirrored panels and photovoltaic cells), a 251-meter pedestrian bridge over the Manzanares in Madrid, and the French Quarter towers in Brisbane (122,000 m² with residential, commercial, and art center). Perrault emphasizes the physical, playful nature of the exhibition, with carpet resembling pavement, low tables, and mesh curtains screening films of buildings in context.