In order to revitalize the Brise-Vent, the project aims to bring it back to its primary reason of being : the wind. In the past, this « sleeping giant » served as a shield against the wind. Today, the Brise-Vent can become a massive wind collector serving a cultural, scientific and educational program : the wind museum.
Our project accompanies Le Havre’s port implement of new energy transition policies. The future wind museum is indeed planned to be built next to the Siemens factory which is developing Fécamp wind farm.
In accordance with the image of Le Havre, we envision the new Brise-Vent as a place where arts and techniques intersect. The blend of the city’s historic brutalism and contemporary art will occur. Our intervention, firmly minimalist and economical in materials, aims to keep the raw concrete alive. To preserve the distinctive rhythm of the Brise-Vent, the partitioning inside the structural frame is positioned delicately.
The building’s unique length generates an inner path allowing exhibitions of historical inventions that helped tame the wind forces. Visitors are invited to experiment with their five senses on this powerful and yet invisible flow throughout the itinerary. We have gathered a rich inventory of forms, techniques, and materials to imagine this project.
The permanent exhibition space unfolds a chronological timeline that illustrates the history of wind power through archival documents and models. The temporary exhibition space can be extended outside, and the external concrete structure can be invested with contemporary works.
The wind is a source of energy as well as an inspiration. Engineers, visual artists, sculptors, painters, and musicians have sought to experience it, capture it and represent it. Therefore, the workshop-apartments and the fab lab integrated within the project will act as a framework for collaborations between artists and engineers, and will ensure daily activity on site.
After the museum’s exhibits, the tour continues with a belvedere offering a stunning view of Le Havre’s city and port. The itinerary invites visitors to embrace the immensity of the concrete structure, its length, height, curve, and its raw materiality.
The southern part of the project features the Brise-Vent’s curved side, which overlooks a wild garden. This garden is being taken over by coastal plants. This new landscape reclaims its rights on the asphalt and evokes the poetry of ancient ruins. A path meandering through is dotted with commissioned installations created by contemporary engineer-artist duos. These playful sculptures, which are halfway between art and machinery, come to life in the wind, tinkling, blowing and shimmering.
Sheltered on the building’s western side, the Auditorium is free to open onto the esplanade and to host open-air concerts. The belvedere, the Brise-Vent and the restaurant can be accessed independently of the museum, allowing both tourists and locals to come and go.
_
BRISE-VENT
LE HAVRE
A MUSEUM IN THE PORT
TERRAVIVA COMPETITION
SEPTEMBRE 2024
