“Beaubourg competition 1971 : a transformation of architecture” – an exhibition to (re)discover the history of the Centre Pompidou

Co-curated with the Centre Pompidou and supported by the École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Saint-Étienne, the exhibition pays tribute to a competition that highlighted the tensions, hopes, and upheavals of an era in full transformation.

Launched in 1969 at the initiative of President Georges Pompidou, the international architecture competition for a center dedicated to modern and contemporary art sparked unprecedented enthusiasm. Over 680 projects from 46 countries were submitted to a jury chaired by Jean Prouvé, in a post-May 1968 climate fueled by institutional critique, fascination with technology, and the lingering influence of academic traditions.

In July 1971, to widespread surprise, the jury awarded the project led by Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, and Gianfranco Franchini, supported by engineers from Ove Arup & Partners. Poorly received by some, their design, a “colorful machine” with exposed structures and systems, immediately divided opinion. A paradoxical monument, it nonetheless asserted a radical idea: to make architecture both a technical infrastructure, a manifesto of innovation, and a gathering place open to all.

The exhibition brings together original drawings, unpublished documents, and archives from the collections of the Centre Pompidou, the Académie d’Architecture, the Archives nationales, the Renzo Piano Foundation, as well as private archives from the architects and the RSHP agency. Beyond historical reinterpretation, Beaubourg Competition 1971 invites reflection on contemporary issues, such as the role of the modern art museum in France and the restoration of a work originally conceived as ephemeral—yet now, through its technique, an architectural icon in its own right.

Kenya Amaro