Sophie Nguyen worked at Ibos & Vitart Architects, in Paris, on the renovation and extension of the Fine Art Museum ‘Palais des Beaux-Arts’ in Lille, France, where she was Project Architect for the design of the facades of the new buildings and the design of the museum display.

The project won the following awards:
• Winner of the Equerre d’Argent 1997 Prize
• Winner of the DuPont Benedictus 1998 Prize

The Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, France, is a 19th century building to which a rear extension was added in the 70s. It needed extra space for the ‘Plans Reliefs’ and the Medieval collections, as well as a new building for the museum offices.
The rear extension was removed and the classic façade was restored. The vaulted basement- used for storage until the renovation, was transformed to house the Medieval Art collection and the Plans-Relief collection.
The museum offices were located in a new glass building, built opposite the old museum, at the end of the courtyard. The design of the facade has a silver pattern which covers all the fixings of the glass panels as well as reflecting the old museum building facade as a pointillist painting.
Behind the glass facade, is the surimposition of the red corridor wall, which includes gold rectangles evoking paintings awaiting to be displayed.

For the temporary exhibitions, a new space was excavated under the courtyard, between the old museum and the new glass building covered by a glass roof. From the newly created room the visitors can appreciate the striking image of the reflection of the classic façade onto the new glazed façade. On the ground floor the rectangular glass roof is flush with the courtyard, evoking the basin of water of a classical garden.