Musée de la Romanité and archaeological garden

Facing the Arènes, the Musée de la Romanité stands in the historic centre of the Roman city. The site once marked the boundary between the medieval town and the modern one, and the remains of the urban rampart run through it. Twenty centuries of heritage and urban layers are stacked upon them, beneath a contemporary building draped in screen-printed glass. Two architectural languages, two eras separated by two thousand years, which together sum up Nîmes.

On the façade, light picks out the volumes in touches, like brushstrokes, to strengthen the draped effect of the building’s four sides. In the gardens, low, horizontal lighting opens up the perspective and lets visitors appreciate the staging of the planting as well as the panoramic view from the roof terrace. Colour temperature changes from one layer of the archaeological garden to the next. At nightfall, elusive lights form a moonlit forest, playful and dreamlike.

Inside, the footbridge is revealed by its horizontal section, which marks the perspective of the interior street. At reception, uniform functional lighting is combined with accent light on the desk and a graphic treatment of the staircase. Between the garden and the museum, the covered passage is treated as a planted corridor, with light playing on the cool tones of the species.

The commission also covers functional and architectural lighting of the interior public areas, and the study of the museum lighting up to the preliminary design stage.