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Architects: Aires Mateus
- Area: 5700 m²
- Year: 2016
Text description provided by the architects. The project of Olivier Debré Contemporary Art Center originates in an international competition that called for proposal to transform the former “Ecole des beaux-arts” in Tours in a space for the exhibition and creation of contemporary Arts, alongside with the conservation of the collection of the abstract painter Olivier Debré.
The ambition of the program was to respect and dialogue with the dense historical city center, to conserve the character of the existing building, but at the same time to provide huge scale voids for the new exhibition function as well as an open relationship with the city. The project originated in the existing conditions: a valuable architectural heritage, a particular urban context, a lucid ambition expressed by the competition brief. Accompanying them is the unique illuminating vision of reality in the work of Olivier Debré.
