La Boverie fine arts museum — Liège
Refurbishment of a fine arts museum and international contemporary art centre.
At once a fine arts museum and CIAC — International Centre for Contemporary Art — the Boverie site and its park have undergone major rehabilitation works. A fully glazed extension has been built facing the Meuse. The fine volumes retained on the ground floor of the existing building are given over to temporary exhibitions.
The tour de force of this operation is the 1.5 m excavation of the former cellars and stores in the basement — requiring more than 200 foundation piles to be drilled — to free up a level reserved for the permanent collections as well as a 170-seat auditorium.
The basement of the existing building was thus restructured to take this 170-seat auditorium, fitted with a high-performance audiovisual installation and stage lighting, and intended first and foremost for lectures and a range of cultural events.
