Louvre Pyramid

Location : Paris,France
Completed : March 30,1989
Building Type : Art Museum Entrance
Style : Modern
Context : Urban
Construction System : Glass,steel rods,cables
 Background

• In 1981,the newly elected

French president Francois
Mitterrand launched a
campaign to renovate cultural
institutions throughout France.
• One of the most advantageous of those projects was the
renovation and reorganization of the Louvre.
• In July,1983 ‘Chinese-American Architect I M Pei was enlisted
to work on the Louvre Museum.
• It was surprising that a French president chose an “Imperialist
American” architect to work on the most emblematic buildings
of French architecture.
•I M Pei’s renovation redesigned Cour Napoleon,the main
court of the Louvre to alleviate congestion from the
thousands of daily visitors.

•A grand new entrance provided a convenient central lobby

space separate from the galleries which provided focal point
for the cyclical process of one’s experience through the
museum.
•In addition to that,Pei’s design featured a new underground
system of galleries,storage and preservation laboratories as
well as a connection between the wings of the museum.

•The addition and relocation of the supporting spaces of the

museum allowed for the Louvre to expand its collection and
place more work on exhibit.
 Design and Construction
• Pei’s design of the Louvre
addition implemented a large
glass and steel pyramid that is
surrounded by three smaller
triangles that provide light to
the space below Cour Napoleon.

• The entry should have an appropriate scale but he refused to

build a solid element that would compete with the presence of
the baroque buildings.

• Emphasising the symmetrical pattern of the palace,Pei

transformed the old parking lot on the Cour Napoleon into a
square with triangular fountains around the pyramid.
•The monumental appearance of the
glass and steel pyramid fixed in the
middle of the court provides a central
focal point that compliments the scale
and design of the Louvre.

• The scale of the pyramid,designed to

the same proportions of the famous
Pyramid of Giza does not detract from
the historical nature of the museum
rather creates a juxtaposition of the
modern structure.

•Visitors entering through the pyramid

descend into the spacious lobby then
re-ascend into the main Louvre building.
 The Inverted Pyramid

• In 1993 the underground

area expanded with the
opening of a modern
shopping mall,the Carrousel
du Louvre.

• It is anchored by an inverted glass pyramid known as the

Inverted Pyramid right above a small stone pyramid
which nicely compliments the Louvre Pyramid.
“Formally,it is the most compatible
with the architecture of the Louvre..
it is also one of the most
structurally stable forms,which
assures its transparency,as it is
constructed of glass and steel,
it signifies a break with the
architectural traditions of the past,
It is a work of our time.”

- I.M.Pei