The billowing glass sails of the new Louis Vuitton Foundation have become a permanent fixture of Paris’ skyline this week after the Frank Gehry designed contemporary art museum was unveiled to the public.
Nicknamed ‘The Iceberg’, the massive structure appears to float over a pool of water in the landscaped Bois de Boulogne parkland and has been described by Gehry as a both a “cloud of glass” and a “sailing ship”.
3,600 rectangular glass panels made in specially created ovens in Italy cover the fiber-reinforced concrete façade, reflecting and distorting the surrounding scenery.
The building was commissioned by France’s wealthiest man, Bernard Arnault, and features 3,850 square metres of gallery space to host both temporary and permanent exhibitions, including works borrowed from Arnault's personal collection.
Also included in the facility are an auditorium, a restaurant and a stepped waterfall.
The ambitious project has been thirteen years in the making, took 100 engineers and a total of 3,000 workers to complete and has reportedly largely surpassed its original $127.5 million price tag.
Courtesy The Guardian and Arch Daily
