Convention Center Rouen | Bigoni-Montemard

Located in the ancient commercial harbor, the project focuses on the extension of an old storage hangar between the railroad tracks and the Seine River, allowing it to house an auditorium and exhibit spaces. In the middle of the building, a large mashrabiya captures and diffracts light. At night, the lattice becomes a lantern, emerging from the floor beneath the hangar’s frame. The auditorium sits partially beneath the old hangar, a concrete structure independent of the existing building frame. The surprise lies at the end of the room, however, when the back wall of the stage opens, and the harbor is invited to join the conversation – to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the rotation of the vertical blinds.