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France's FRAC Centre to Open New Tubular Prefabricated Center

France's FRAC Centre to Open New Tubular Prefabricated Center

The Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain, known as the FRAC, will open its fourth location at the former Subsistances military site in the Centre Region on September 14th. The Orleans-based center dubbed “The Turbulences” is the brainchild of architecture duo, Jakob + MacFarlane, who have renovated the original U-shaped military base and created a bold prefabricated  structure in the middle of the courtyard to house the public reception area, cafeteria, bookshop, and auditorium.

Made of aluminum, concrete and wood panels, the Turbulences will also display a “veil of light” on the exterior produced by artists Electronic Shadow (Niziha Mestaoui and Yacine Aït Kaci). The permanent and temporary exhibition galleries, in addition to a learning workshop area, will be located in the Subsistances. A new garden, “La faille/The Fault,” designed by ruedurepos agency (Christophe Ponceau and Mélanie Drevet) will offer visitors an open green space with plantings and outfitted with Corten steel furniture.

The FRAC, in its thirtieth year, emerged out of the decentralization of the country’s collection (and production) of contemporary art and architecture to foster a more equitable and regional cultural program. The FRAC Centre’s collection of architecture focuses on work from 1950s to present day, and consists of 15,000 architectural drawings, 800 models, and 600 artworks.

The FRAC has embarked on an ambitious expansion plan: six regions are in the process of opening new centers, including Brittany (opened), Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (opened), Franche-Comté (opened), Centre Region (opening in September), Nord-Pas de Calais (opening in September), and Basse-Normandie (to be completed in 2015).

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