Musee de Louvain-la-Neuve in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

January 01, 2011 Category: Cultural, Public Buildings

Located in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, Musee de Louvain-la-Neuve was designed by Perkins+Will. The concept was to create a building that preserves the park setting and extends it to the town square while acting as an element marking the entry to the civic parking deck below the town centre.

The museum consists of two massing elements: an exhibition tower, housing the museum’s permanent collection, and a park-covered base, containing public functions and temporary exhibits. The roof of this base provides pedestrian connections within an elevated park, creating a terrace which overlooks the lake. The exhibition tower slopes out of the landscape, forming a vertical element which marks the vehicular and pedestrian entries to the town square.

Permanent galleries are located around an atrium which acts as an orientation space for the collection. Louvers over the atrium modulate light and act as solar collectors. Off of this space are a series of circulation routes providing a variety of ways of experiencing the collection.

Musee de Louvain-la-Neuve design by Perkins+Will