Luxury-goods magnate François Pinault—founder of Kering (formerly the Gucci Group)—and Pritzker Prize winner Tadao Ando have created some of the world’s most unexpected museums by turning classical European buildings into venues for Pinault’s collection of top-shelf contemporary art. The duo’s latest endeavor gives new life to Paris’s circular, glass-domed Bourse de Commerce, building on their revamp of Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, both in Venice.
Constructed in the 16th century for Catherine de’ Médici, the neoclassical palace was reconceived for the 1889 world’s fair, and today, thanks to surgical interventions in Ando’s signature minimalist concrete, it is reborn once again. Now, a round, cement-clad gallery traces the curves of the original rotunda; new works by artists of color juxtapose 19th-century murals depicting colonial-era capitalism; and a Michel Bras rooftop restaurant affords pristine Parisian views.
