Reinventing legacy through identity: Inside Hall Haus’ ever-evolving design world
by Aarthi MohanSep 26, 2025
•make your fridays matter with a well-read weekend
by Dan HogmanPublished on : Jan 22, 2020
Paris is known for its cultural heritage; the city is one of the world’s leading destination when it comes to arts, music, museums, festivals, and other cultural attractions. So, when our regular columnist Dan Hogman visited the French capital, he decided to stop at Fondation Louis Vuitton and marvel at the wonder.
Designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, the art museum responds to the setting of the Jardin d’Acclimatation (a children’s park) and retains the 19th century tradition of glass garden buildings.
Since its inauguration in October 2014, the building has become a cultural landscape icon and every year welcomes more than a million visitors from across the world.
As Hogman draws a sketch on a blank page, he familiarises us with the unique and bold building, that the architect calls ‘a magnificent vessel symbolising the cultural calling of France’.
A part of his ‘Travel Notes’ series, this video is divided into seven sections, describing the entire process of a sketch. The building’s design is an assemblage of white blocks (called icebergs) clad in panels of fiber-reinforced concrete, surrounded by 12 glass ‘sails’ supported by wooden beams. As many as 3,600 panels form the Fondation's 12 sails to the 19,000 panels of Ductal (fibre-reinforced concrete), each one unique, providing the iceberg its immaculate whiteness. And therefore, the building reflects the water, woods and garden and continually change with the light.
The two-story structure has 11 galleries, a 350-seat auditorium on the lower-ground floor and multilevel roof terraces for events and exhibitions.
However, Hogman believes that Gehry goes overboard while designing this building. Maybe it’s the huge budget of the building, the nautical flourishes or the fact that this architectural piece is a gift that the neighbourhood was initially not keen on receiving.
Tell us what you think of this arts and cultural centre in the comments below.
For more videos by Dan Hogman, click here.
by Bansari Paghdar Sep 25, 2025
Middle East Archive’s photobook Not Here Not There by Charbel AlKhoury features uncanny but surreal visuals of Lebanon amidst instability and political unrest between 2019 and 2021.
by Aarthi Mohan Sep 24, 2025
An exhibition by Ab Rogers at Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, retraced five decades of the celebrated architect’s design tenets that treated buildings as campaigns for change.
by Bansari Paghdar Sep 23, 2025
The hauntingly beautiful Bunker B-S 10 features austere utilitarian interventions that complement its militarily redundant concrete shell.
by Mrinmayee Bhoot Sep 22, 2025
Designed by Serbia and Switzerland-based studio TEN, the residential project prioritises openness of process to allow the building to transform with its residents.
make your fridays matter
SUBSCRIBEEnter your details to sign in
Don’t have an account?
Sign upOr you can sign in with
a single account for all
STIR platforms
All your bookmarks will be available across all your devices.
Stay STIRred
Already have an account?
Sign inOr you can sign up with
Tap on things that interests you.
Select the Conversation Category you would like to watch
Please enter your details and click submit.
Enter the 6-digit code sent at
Verification link sent to check your inbox or spam folder to complete sign up process
by Dan Hogman | Published on : Jan 22, 2020
What do you think?