Alesandro Gubitosi

« La giusta misura in Bar le Duc »

L’Arca,  #116 june 1997. p. 12

“The strong point of this project is probably the way old and new have been combined in just the right proportions. In this case, the old is represented by a XIXth century building with an H-shaped plan that has been completely restructured. It has also been extended by the addition of a new, apparently separate construction over the south side. […]

Perrault’s extension is a fine example of how old and new can be combined together without having to cancel out the historical features of old buildings or give up the wild emotions offered by modern building techniques.

This design has achieved the right balance in two mains ways. Firstly, the question of height: the new building has been detached from the main elevation of the nineteenth-century edifice by restricting its height; secondly, a stylistic feature: the new extension has a convex roof along its entire length that instantly resolves any problems concerning how the facades of the two buildings interact.”