Buildings
I.M. Pei to Renovate His Louvre Addition
(archrecord.construction.com - 09/26/2006)
By Sam Lubell
Architect I.M. Pei has confirmed that
he is developing a solution to manage overcrowding in the
Louvre’s entrance. Pei and museum officials agreed to
move forward in mid-September.
Pei’s former firm, Pei Cobb Freed,
completed the 70-foot-tall Pyramide du Louvre and 665,000-square-foot
underground entry and concourse in 1989. Pei says attendance
at the Louvre has increased almost 70 percent since the popular
project was completed, and now hosts 7.5 million visitors
each year. Consequently, the public space has become crowded
and loud, and has lost much of the peaceful aura the architect
originally intended. “It’s a real concern for me,”
says Pei, who had anticipated a less dramatic jump in attendance
after his “Grand Louvre” project was completed.
“If we don’t do it, the place is going to look like
an airport.”
Pei does not yet know the specific measures
his team will carry out, but he says that a resolution should
be sympathetic to the surrounding architecture. He adds that
it should also allow visitors to access the collections despite
construction.
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