close
Normal Studio designed the layout and visitor experience for the newly remodelled Modern and Contemporary Design Gallery in the Museum of Decorative Arts - MAD Paris, which displays works from 1948 to the present day. The space extends over 2,000 sq. metres. The project was installed along the passageways of the Rohan wing at the Palais du Louvre, as well as in the Pavillon de Marsan – the building’s central focus. The museum’s vast collection retraces the recent history of international design, covering design, the graphic design trend and arts and crafts.
To make it easier for visitors to find their way, we stripped down the spaces to get as close as possible to the original architecture. Continuing our minimalist approach, we designed a very light concrete covering to present the works. By removing partitions and revealing views of Paris – the Louvre, rue de Rivoli and the Tuileries gardens – the city enters the museum and becomes part of the visitor experience.
The staging is composed of simple elements: platforms, bases, stone tablets and windows. As the pieces are stacked and positioned in different places, they seem to be in a haphazard fashion, but the layout has in fact been designed according to a well-defined system that presents them almost scientifically, giving a transversal and dynamic vision of the collections.
We structured the space in the large rooms of the Marsan pavilion by creating “hyper furniture”. At the centre of the building, a large bookcase – inspired by a storage rack – brings together a selection of chairs on several levels. Visitors are invited to walk around the works (see below), which are juxtaposed so that they present an objective selection of historical chairs. Finally, the route is punctuated by a chair and a light fixture, both specially created for this museum.
1
2
3
4
5
6
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29