Musée Crozatier

The museum and collection

The musée Crozatier is located in Le-Puy-En-Velay (France) in a public parc named Jardin Henri Vinay. The museum dates back to the second half of the 19th century. Its artefacts are displayed in different galleries dedicated to archaeology, arts, ethnology and lace, palaeontology, and natural sciences and mechanics. 

The assignment

An extension to the ancient building was constructed 4 years before and the scenography is spread over both buildings. In order to properly host all the different themes and objects, scenographer Beaudouin Architectes decided to design different types of cases for each topic. This makes the museum a good example of the possibilities in terms of location of the cases but also in terms of type of opening mechanisms and internals. The finishes are mainly lacquered sheet metal, extra white glass with back paint and natural stone. 

The project: challenges & result

Some of the showcases needed to be embedded in niches in the wall. This required a precise survey of the existing building to make sure that the cases would perfectly fit. These embedded cases were designed with a shadow gap around the case between the wall and the cases. Every showcase’s interior is different in order to better emphasize the diversity of the presented artworks.