PIERRE ARNAUD FOUNDATION

Technological and aesthetic requirements
The façade of the Art Centre meets six particularly demanding criteria:
Mirroring the panorama of Lake Louché and the surrounding mountains
Producing energy thanks to photovoltaic solar panels
Guaranteeing optimal thermal insulation for the artworks
Meeting Minergie standards
Filtering the light necessary for the enhancement and protection of the works displayed
Staging interplay of light at night.
Thanks to the innovative process used to meet these requirements, the Art Centre’s façade is unique in Europe.

Result:
A 250 m² façade comprising 84 photovoltaic solar panels
Installed in 2 days according to the LEGO^® principle
Modules combining photovoltaic technology with the insulation system in order to ensure perfect thermal resistance.
Thermal insulation composed of nanoparticles which has two advantages: minimum thickness equivalent to 25 cm of stone wool insulation, as well as being a material which allows light to pass through it.
Average annual energy production of 15,000 kWh, i.e. the equivalent of the Art Centre’s total lighting requirement.
With its crystal-like purity, brilliance, beauty and cutting-edge technology, the façade has naturally become the Foundation’s emblem.

Posted 17 October 2013

Share this:

|

Official opening of the Pierre Arnaud Foundation, a modern art centre in Crans-Montana (Switzerland)
22/12

A new modern art venue, the Pierre Arnaud Foundation is opening its doors on the Crans-Montana plateau in the village of Lens. The aim of this organisation is to present temporary, themed exhibitions. It was created in honour of the French industrialist and collector Pierre Arnaud (1922-1996), who was based in Valais. The Foundation is destined to compare Swiss painting with major international trends in painting from 1850 to 1950, creating a junction between western and non-western art from this same period.
The Pierre Arnaud Foundation will organise two exhibitions per year in line with the resort’s winter and summer seasons. The inaugural display, called Divisionnisme: Couleur maîtrisée? and Couleur éclatée! (Divisionism: Colour control? Explosive colour!), kicks off a winter cycle comprising five exhibitions over the course of five years. In the light of works by artists from the Alpine region, these will provide a new interpretation of divisionism, realism, Romanticism and symbolism.

The summer period will be devoted to inter-cultural meetings, an environment conducive to construe that each civilization produces art and that each art is different, bearing its own values and meanings. The first exhibition of this kind will thus be devoted to surrealism and to primitive art. During subsequent summers exhibitions will explore themes such as body painting.

JP Emery & Partners designed the innovative architecture of the 900 m2 Pierre Arnaud Foundation. Its reflective glass façade, entirely covered with solar cells, makes the structure relatively independent in terms of energy whilst also seamlessly integrating the plateau’s mountain scenery. In addition, the Foundation’s museography was assigned to the internationally renowned designer and scenographer Adrien Gardère, responsible for the exhibition design of the Louvre Lens, working closely with the agency on-situ regarding developments in multimedia.
The Pierre Arnaud Foundation has chosen to focus its curatorial approach upon the dialogue and confrontation between different practices, thinking and cultures, taking the view that this perspective helps to provide a different vision of the world of art.

FOUNDATION PIERRE ARNAUD
Centre d'Art, Lens/Montana
route de Crans
CH-1978 Lens
+41 (0)27-4834610
info@fondationpa.ch
http://web.fondationpierrearnaud.ch