The Beaubourg Competition 1971, a shift in architecture
(19-01-2026)
The Centre Pompidou, in collaboration with the Académie d'Architecture and with the support of the École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Saint-Étienne, pays tribute to the Centre Beaubourg design competition held in 1971. Through about hundred undisclosed documents, the exhibition highlights the impact and the context of this competition. It also displays around 50 projects by international architects from the 681 competition entries.
To measure this complex metamorphosis, the curators Boris Hamzeian and Pieter Uyttenhove have selected documents from the public archives of the Centre Pompidou, the collections of the Académie d'Architecture, the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine, the Politecnico di Milano, and the private archives of Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, Gianfranco Franchini, Claude Parent, etc.
The exhibition invites reflection on the modern art museum in France and reminds us that behind this unstoppable momentum lays the desire to follow in the footsteps of French pioneers in the field of metal architecture and prefabrication, such as Jean Prouvé, Pierre Chareau, Marcel Lods, and Vladimir Bodiansky.
Académie d'Architecture
Hôtel de Chaulnes
9 place des Vosges, Paris
From January 30 to February 22, 2026. Every day except Tuesday and Wednesday, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Free admission while entries are available
PUBLIC WORKSHOPS
Friday, January 30, 2026, 5-7 pm
I. Models in progress: tour/performance of the exhibition by students from the Saint-Étienne School of Architecture.
Friday, February 6, 2026, 5-7 pm
II. Mutations: 1971 versus 2026, two moments of change.
Friday, February 13, 2026, 5-7 pm
III. Archival documents: the taste of the archive.