Frank Gehry’s LUMA Arles centre takes shape

Its opening has been pushed back to 2020, but the LUMA Arles complex is taking shape in the French town celebrated for its prestigious Les Rencontres d’Arles photography festival.

Set on the site of the former SNCF rail yard long used for exhibitions by Les Rencontres, LUMA Arles will be an interdisciplinary arts centre aimed at supporting and producing exhibitions, research, education and archives. It is backed by Swiss collector Maja Hoffmann, whose LUMA Foundation has been involved with Les Rencontres d’Arles since 2013. LUMA Arles will occupy a 20-acre site when it’s complete, and the arts centre will be the centre-piece.

The tower is designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, who is probably best-known for helping revive the fortunes of Bilbao, Spain with his Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, which opened in 1997. Due to be 56m high when complete, the centre in Arles will feature a vast circular atrium said to recall the UNESCO-listed town’s Roman amphitheatre.

The new building, designed with Frank Gehry © Hervé Hôte

Hoffmann has contributed €150 million to the project, according to ArtNet, which will also feature a public garden called the Parc des Ateliers, designed by Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets. New York-based Selldorf Architects has already converted several industrial buildings on the site into gallery spaces.

Hoffmann, whose wealth is inherited from the Hoffmann-La Roche pharmaceutical company, grew up in Arles and is continuing a family tradition of investing in the town, but her plans have met with some criticism. François Hebel, the highly successful director of Arles from 2001-2014, resigned when it was announced that the LUMA Foundation would take over the ateliers site.

“Seven years ago, I suggested to Maja Hoffmann that she buy these ateliers to refurbish them for Les Rencontres d’Arles,” he told BJP at the time. “But in 2009 she changed her mind and came up with the project of a contemporary art centre. She wanted, little by little, to expel Les Rencontres.”

3D view of the Parc des Ateliers © Bureau Bas Smets

One of the programmes set up in Arles so far is the Atelier Luma project, which launched in 2016. Described as “a think tank, a production workshop and a learning network”, it is focusing on “new and sustainable ways of using the natural and cultural resources of the bioregion”, including inviting Dutch designers Eric Klarenbeek and Maartje Dros on board to set develop their 3D bioplastics printing AlgaeLab.

https://www.luma-arles.org/fr https://atelier-luma.org/en/ https://www.1854.photography/2014/03/les-rencontres-darles-director-francois-hebel-questions-the-festivals-future/

Aerial view of the site © Bureau Bas Smets
Aerial view of the site © Hervé Hôte
The new building, designed with Frank Gehry © Hervé Hôte
Aerial view of the site © Hervé Hôte
Aerial view of the site © Hervé Hôte
The new building, designed with Frank Gehry © Hervé Hôte
The new building, designed with Frank Gehry © Hervé Hôte
Exterior view of the Formation, renovated by Selldorf Architects. Luma Arles, Parc des Ateliers, November 2018 © Victor & Simon
Exterior view of the Formation and the Forges, renovated by Selldorf Architects. Luma Arles, Parc des Ateliers, April 2018 © Hervé Hôte
Interior view of the Formation, renovated by Selldorf Architects. Luma Arles, Parc des Ateliers, November 2018 © Victor & Simon
3D view of the Parc des Ateliers © Bureau Bas Smets
Diane Smyth

Diane Smyth is the editor of BJP, returning for a second stint on staff in 2023 - after 15 years on the team until 2019. As a freelancer, she has written for The Guardian, FT Weekend Magazine, Creative Review, Aperture, FOAM, Aesthetica and Apollo. She has also curated exhibitions for institutions such as The Photographers Gallery and Lianzhou Foto Festival. You can follow her on instagram @dismy