Every architectural project unfolds in a succession of well-defined phases, each with its own contribution to make.
After the sketch, the Avant-Projet Sommaire (APS) appears on March 12, 2025…
In our case, the APS is an architectural, landscape and scenographic study whose aim is to verify “the realism, feasibility and approximate cost of the project”.
Architecturally, the facades, openings, exterior cladding and interior materials – wood, rough concrete, glass – are slowly coming to life. The layout of the museum tour, technical rooms, offices and storerooms is virtually stable.
And then the scenography comes into play: the first proposals for the layout of the visiting spaces, the integration of multimedia, projections and sound backgrounds, then the lighting, sometimes violent, sometimes intimate, in direct relation to the message delivered. On the walls and on the floor, the graphic design is inscribed, as close as possible to the objects and archives; the furniture appears, both elegant and sober, designed to highlight the unique document, the object which, when placed in context, tells the story; the immense maps which help to understand the issues and contexts are drawn on the walls…
Everything’s on offer, nothing’s set in stone
Everything is proposed, discussed, modified, deleted and invented in order to provide the best possible support for the message that must be understood by the public, that will sharpen the critical spirit of schoolchildren, open up new perspectives for adults, and modify the vision of visitors when they leave the museum. At this stage, everything is proposed, nothing is set in stone. The submission of the APS by the entire project management team is preceded by numerous intermediate meetings between all the players involved, with fine-tuning, questioning and sometimes difficult choices to be made, with one watchword: the coherence of the project. And a headache for everyone: flow management! Individual visitors, adult groups, school tours, the children’s trail, accessibility for the disabled… Everyone needs to be able to move around without traffic jams or queues, and as smoothly as possible: groups need to be able to gather together, individuals need to be able to sit down as well as go into the store, all in an area of more than 1000 m.2. The beehive is on the move… Three more months to bring in the collections, carefully selected to deliver the right message, in the right place; three more months to precisely imagine the exterior spaces, parking areas, coach drop-off points, rainwater drainage, heating ducts, etc. Rendezvous on June 6, for the Final Preliminary Design (APD). But that’s another story… and another post
