Art Centre Chateau La Coste | Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

The site is located in southern France, nearby the birthplace of “the father of modern painting”, Paul Cézanne. The project consists of outdoor sculptures and pavilions placed throughout an existing 190- hectare winery that has been restructured as a garden museum. The central Art Center facility is characterized by a 4,000 square meter reflecting pond that has a length of 140 meters. This water feature provides a key element for the overall landscape while simultaneously presenting a scenic solution to the demand for a large number of parking spaces. The main volume of the building floats upon the pond and is composed simply as a layered structure of concrete and glass in a wedge-shaped form. It contains the functions of an information center, gallery, and café, and forms a gate that welcomes visitors to the site.