Article published in Le Moniteur – 18/04/2025.
Totally unknown, Foucarville was the largest German prison camp in Europe – 100,000 men on 80 hectares – opened in 1944,
at the Liberation. The museum that will be dedicated to it is a response to the development of remembrance tourism that the region is calling for.
The project. Close to the site of the former camp, it forms a sculpture made of voids and interstices, not to reconstitute what once was, but to suggest it. Built horizontally to anchor the project in the ground, using organic and geosourced materials, the three constituent parts respect a vernacular style that is mindful of the natural environment and local heritage. A succession of architectural and landscape sequences structure the visitor’s journey of discovery. The scenography provides an insight into wartime captivity, thanks to the rich archives of American colonel Warren J. Kennedy, who was in charge of the camp.
→ Operation: construction of the museum of the former Foucarville German prison camp and wartime captivity.
Owner: Association Warren J. Kennedy (Sainte-Mère-Eglise). General contractor: Shema (Caen) and Kantara (Paris).
Award-winning team: Tracks, architecte, mandataire (Paris and Rennes); Klapisch.Scénographes, scenographer (Paris); Make Ingénierie, BET structure (Paris); Area Etudes Nantes, BET fluids and environment (Saint-Aignan-Grandlieu); Eco+Construire, economist (Paris and Rennes); Altia, BET acoustics (Paris); 8’18”, lighting designer (Paris and Marseille); Animaviva, audiovisual and multimedia designer (Paris); C-Album, graphic designer (Paris); De long en Large, landscape designer (Nantes); Okaré Ingénierie, BET VRD (Cesson-Sévigné): Surface area: 1304 m? of floor space.
Estimated works: €6.3m excluding VAT. Competition winner:
November 2024.
Provisional timetable: studies, January to December 2025; consultation with contractors, December 2025 to April 2026; start of works, April 2026; handover, May 2028.
