2017 Jean HanischJean Hanisch & Baptiste Huchant - (RE)CLASSIFY
For many years Liege is looking for a place to centralize its main artworks collections and the Bibliothèque Ulysse Capitaine archives (BUC). The old ''Beaux Arts Liégeois'' museum (BAL), who takes place in the historical center of the city has been chosen for this conversion intervention. This building is a part of the St George's block, a postmodernism construction located between the hill and the river. This rough building, entirely made of concrete, provides the transition between the Cité Administrative, a significant modernist building, and the old neighbourhood.
It is based on a commercial ground floor where rise up two administrative wings which contain the BAL and a public esplanade at the first floor.
During the project evolution we were just allowed to modify the old museum and the public space around it.
First of all the project faced of two main problems concerning the esplanade : no accessibilty and no visibility. In order to revitalize this public space, different access were organized and several fonctions in the spirit of the neibourhood were established on the ground floor. This new free space acts like un octopus and reconnects functions.
In a second step another issue has been highlighted by the program. Indeed the old museum couldn't receive the archives and the artworks. The pogram was also devided in two distinct parts : the artworks in the old museum and the archives through a new construction.
On one hand the BAL includes the artworks center which is separated in two areas of storages : one locked in the heart of the building and the other taking place in the museal circulation around it.
On the other hand a tower hosts the BUC functions in order to create storages as efficient as possible. Public circulation and staff circulation never crossed and then preserve the books health.
The interaction between those three elements create

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