LUMA Arles, arts centre and architectural ensemble in Arles, France
LUMA Arles is an arts centre in the Parc des Ateliers in Arles, made up of seven renovated former railway factories and a 56-metre tower by Frank Gehry. The tower's skin consists of 10,752 stainless steel blocks, with 53 bay windows and a glass rotunda echoing the Roman arenas. A cylindrical glass building connects to the tower at its base.
The LUMA Foundation, created in Zurich in 2004 by Maja Hoffmann, began transforming the Parc des Ateliers in 2008. Construction of Frank Gehry's tower started in April 2014 and was inaugurated on 4 July 2021, the same year the park reopened on 26 June. The tower is clad in 10,752 stainless steel blocks and rises 56 metres.
LUMA Arles hosts exhibitions and performances from artists around the world who explore current ideas and social issues. Visitors experience art in gardens, galleries, and open spaces where creativity blends with everyday life.
The site sits in the Parc des Ateliers, a short walk south of the Roman arenas in central Arles. The landscaped park by Bas Smets, with its pond and 1,100 trees, links the seven former railway workshops to Gehry's tower, so allow time to move between buildings on foot. The tower has a 150-seat auditorium, a library and a café.
Gehry called the tower his "first Roman building": its glass rotunda echoes the Roman arenas of Arles, while the craggy steel skin refers to the rocky outcrops of the Alpilles and to Van Gogh's Starry Night, painted in Arles in 1889. The tower rises 56 metres on ten floors, each with a different petal-shaped plan.
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