Contemporary design complements historic city entre

A ceremony has been held to celebrate that construction is well underway for Nimes’ new congress centre, designed by Tenderstream member 3XN in collaboration with Chabanne and landscape architects Land-Act. The design challenge was to create an eye-catching and contemporary building that complements the history of Nimes city centre, which features structures dating back as far as 2000 years. 

The building’s exterior creates a bridge between past and present, fashioned from stone sourced from the same local quarry that provided the material for the city’s Roman temple two millennia ago. Dotted with slim window openings, the façade keeps the interior cool in the blistering Mediterranean heat, while retaining warmth during the winter. The exterior and roofline of the building arc in convex and concave curves, adding character and offering unique views.

The 8000 sq m site is split into two volumes, with curved and irregular masses arranged both to fit around the existing urban fabric and to create some natural distance along an axis that aligns with a public pedestrian street. The westernmost structure contains a large public lobby and a flexible main auditorium, while the easternmost structure includes an exhibition hall at ground level that overlooks the city’s archaeological garden. The two buildings appear to link in an architectural feature called ‘The Kiss’, where the exterior walls curve out towards each other over a path, connected by an exterior footbridge.

 “The vision for the project is to create dynamic and fluid new spaces for business, entertainment, and public gathering,“ says 3XN senior partner Jan Ammundsen. “By using a palette of natural materials such as blond stone, raw concrete, wood, and different tones of ‘denim’ blue, the design concept bridges the historic context of Nîmes with the present.”

The project is expected to reach completion in October 2025.

Lucy Nordberg
Tenderstream Head of Research

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