France's Ministry of Culture has announced the five finalist teams competing to redesign the world's most visited museum as part of the ambitious Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance project. The international competition attracted over 100 submissions, with two-thirds coming from international firms, marking a significant milestone in the museum's transformation plans.
A jury of 21 members carefully reviewed all proposals before selecting the five finalist teams. The shortlisted teams include Amanda Levete Architects (AL_A) working with NC Nathalie Crinière, Carole Bénaiteau, VDLA, and Atelier SOIL. Architecture Studio will collaborate with Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Atelier Brückner, LAMA YA, and TER. Dubuisson Architecture has partnered with renowned Japanese firm SANAA and Dan Pearson Studio. Sou Fujimoto Ateliers Paris is teaming up with Sou Fujimoto Architects, Ducks Scéno, and Vogt Paysage. Finally, STUDIOS Architecture will work alongside Selldorf Architects, Scénarchie, and BASE.
Announced by French President Emmanuel Macron in January 2025, Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance represents a comprehensive scientific, cultural, architectural, and environmental undertaking. The project aims to completely renew the museum's infrastructure while creating innovative new spaces and access points that will fundamentally redefine how millions of annual visitors experience the historic Louvre.
The first major component, called Louvre Grande Colonnade, focuses on establishing new public entrances through the eastern section of the palace. This initiative will restore the original architectural intent behind King Louis XIV's monumental facade, which has remained largely underutilized since its construction. These new eastern entrances are specifically designed to reduce the heavy congestion currently experienced at I.M. Pei's iconic glass pyramid entrance while significantly improving visitor circulation throughout the vast museum complex.
Beneath the historic Cour Carrée and its surrounding gardens, an ambitious new underground expansion will introduce an entirely additional museum wing. This underground space will include a specially dedicated gallery for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, known as the Parcours Joconde. This new gallery aims to properly recontextualize the world's most famous painting while redistributing the intense flow of visitors that currently overwhelms the Denon Wing, where the masterpiece is currently housed.
The expansion plans also include construction of a new grand exhibition hall, which will enable the Louvre to host significantly larger and more diverse temporary exhibitions. This addition will strengthen the museum's role as a contemporary cultural venue while maintaining its historic significance. The broader vision seeks to reconnect the museum with its surrounding urban landscape, creating better integration from the moats of the Grande Colonnade to the facades overlooking Place du Louvre.
The second component, Louvre Demain, introduces a comprehensive long-term master plan for completely renovating the museum's aging infrastructure and technical systems. This extensive renovation will ensure that the monumental historic site meets modern 21st-century standards for sustainability, accessibility, and visitor comfort. All architectural interventions will be carefully supervised by François Chatillon, the Chief Architect of Historical Monuments, ensuring preservation of the site's historic integrity.
Through Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance, museum leadership seeks to carefully balance the building's historic grandeur with contemporary operational needs. The project represents an expansion of I.M. Pei's transformative Grand Louvre project from the 1980s and 1990s, which successfully transformed the Cour Napoléon and Richelieu Wing but left the eastern facade largely untouched. This new initiative sets out to complete that earlier vision by reuniting the classical architecture of the historic palace with the modern city that surrounds it, creating a more integrated and accessible cultural destination for visitors from around the world.
