Watertower Dudelange – Centre national de l’audiovisuel

Watertower Dudelange – Centre national de l’audiovisuel

  • Client: Services des Sites et Monuments Nationaux
  • Collaborators: kaell architecte
  • Gross surface: 639 m2
  • Location: Dudelange, LU
  • Status: Completed 2012
  • Award: Prix Luxembourgeois d'Architecture 2015 - Winner

Transformation of the water tower for Edward Steichen’s exhibition “The Bitter Years”

In an unusual manner, the Dudelange water tower is directly connected to the city center. This emblem of Dudelange was not to be disfigured in any way by the museum project for the exhibition of Edward Steichen’s The Bitter Years collection. The symbiosis between the conservation and development of the heritage, the newly created exhibition space and the frank and contemporary architectural intervention brings tremendous added value to the whole, opening it up to the world and the public. All the elements newly introduced on the site are made of tinted concrete and steel, without ornament. The choice to work with clear, structured concrete for the new elements of the water tower (external stairs and lift shaft) combined with the rough and rough gunning of the existing structures creates today a balance in the materials used and makes it possible to apprehend the tower as a strong sculptural composition. The simplicity of the elements provides powerful views of a graphic nature. Thus, the giant geometries of the water tower and the cooling basins are highlighted. Together with the existing cooling basins, the buildings form a coherent whole that takes visitors on a journey through past and present. Visible from many vantage points in Dudelange, the imposing dimensions of the 56-metre high tower become even more surprising at close range