Kengo Kuma and Associates won the competition for the construction of the FRAC PACA (Regional Contemporary Art Fund of the PACA region).
Made up of 1,700 glass panels on which 4 million drops of enamel were applied by hand, the façade of the FRAC PACA is the result of a close dialogue between Emmanuel Barrois and the agency Kengo Kuma and Associates.
The architects wanted a multitude of similar glass elements for the façade, hinting at the complexity of the FRAC’s activities, of which it would be the reflection, while remaining protective. For Kengo Kuma, the panels had above all to convey the infinite variety of the Mediterranean’s lights and colours, different, delicate and strong, ever-changing.
The industrial enamel covering the clear glass was applied by hand, panel after panel, using syringes dispensing the enamel drops. A veil of sprayed enamel then unified the whole to ensure good diffusion of light through the glass, and to allow the building’s interior volumes and the works on display to benefit from a neutral, diffuse light.
