The Canopy, renovation of the Madeleine Renaud and Jean-Louis Barrault Library

The Canopy Renovation of the Renaud Barrault library

The canopy is the core metaphor for the renovation of the Renaud Barrault Library, originally built in 1985 by Beatrice Douine and Jacques Prunis. The tree is a powerful symbol, providing shade and a place of protection where one can slow down, spend a quiet moment with a book, or share knowledge with others. In the renovated library building, the staircases, whose walls are covered with bookshelves, resemble tree trunks, while the new solar roof becomes a canopy that literally provides shade and energy. The region's abundance of sunshine naturally suggested using the roof for harvesting solar power, as part of an environmentally conscious makeover of the 1980s building. The tree is also a symbol of life, which was particularly relevant since the city saw this project as representing a new lease of life for the library and for the surrounding neighborhood, intended as a future gateway to Avignon. The new canopy roof, made of wood and solar panels, distinguishes itself by being taller, lighter, and markedly different from the original concrete volume, creating a strong urban signal. The internal design responds to the paradigm shift brought about by the digital revolution. Libraries evolve into hybrids of physical and virtual space; digital interfaces play an increasingly important role in the way we-especially younger generations-interact with a library. A contemporary library is no longer exclusively about books: it is a place where one may come for a lecture, debates, a coffee, or a film. Set around a newly created light well, reading areas offer a major incentive to those who opt to sit down with a traditional book. An auditorium shared with the city makes the library part of wider community life. Anticipation of future evolution keeps the layouts extremely flexible.

Completed in 2024

Client City of Avignon 

Programme Library, auditorium

Team TPFI, Hedont , Gustave Charpente

Client
Avignon city council

Brief
Library, auditorium

Partners
TPFI, Hedont

Photos : Roland Halbe