Around the Pavillon Noir

From the latest realizations of the biggest names in contemporary international architecture, all the way back to Fernand Pouillon's early efforts, this tour presents almost a century of architectural forms in the span of a few metres. This stroll will lead you through the Sextius Zone d’Aménagement Concerté (joint development area), one of Europe's most important urban projects of the last 20 years, then down to the end of the Cours Mirabeau.



Autour du pavillon Noir Pavillon noir Conservatoire régional de musique Grand théatre de Provence Annexe des archives départementales Logements Poste principale Palais Victor Hugo
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Regional Music Conservatory

Regional Music Conservatory



It was only natural to house the art school in Kengo Kuma's origami-like edifice. This is the fifth and last cultural building erected in the Sextius-Mirabeau development area (ZAC). It falls in line with the current cultural and contemporary-based approach of our cities' redevelopment: collections of starchitect realizations. Following Italian Vittorio Gregotti and Frenchman Rudy Ricciotti, Japan's Kengo Kuma was entrusted with the construction of the last cultural project, a consecration of the Land of the Rising sun's traditional paperfolding craft. The architect complements the Pavillon Noir's energetic brutality with serene origami construction with wood and metal facades that fold in an upwards movement. The parallelepiped rectangle's angles are cut out or glassed in to draw in the visitors. Inside, 62 rooms and a 500-seat auditorium make up France's largest conservatory, which was housed since its 1849 founding in the Hôtel de Caumont. The new construction bears the name of famous composer Darius Milhaud, who was born in Marseille and buried in Aix, a pioneer of modern music, as an homage to Aix-en-Provence artistic mandate (not to mention its world-famous opera festival).
Architect :
Kengo Kuma
AYear : 2013
Type : enseignement
Adress :
avenue Wolfgang Amadeus mozart, Aix-en-Provence
Géolocalisation google 43.297292,5.361493