On the banks of the Doubs River in Eastern France, Kengo Kuma has designed ‘besançon art center and music city’ as an integral link among dissonant styles of the natural and built context. Known for seiji ozawa being awarded the grand prix of the besançon orchestra conductors international competition in 1959, besancon has a rich cultural history. At the edge of the city, the center connects the 1930s warehouse and 17th century vauban citadel, roof becomes landscape rather than object. The undulating form admits a generous amount of natural light through a system of glazed tiles that mimic the dappled awnings of trees. the architectural form draws from the composition of light created in the meandering watery skin of the river. The building is clad with a tiled timber skin that reveals a subtle underlayer of glazing. The translation is at once a subtle abstraction and faithful metaphor of the intensely creative hub nestled within the greenery of the riverbank.
