The Centre Pompidou-Metz is a museum of modern and contemporary arts located in Metz, France. It is a branch of Pompidou arts centre of Paris, and features semi-permanent and temporary exhibitions from the large collection of the French National Museum of Modern Art. The Monument was designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. The Centre Pompidou-Metz is a large hexagon structured round a central spire reaching 77 m (253 ft) and possesses three rectangular galleries weaving through the building at different levels. The roof is the major achievement of the building: a 90 m (300 ft) wide hexagon echoing the building’s floor map. The entire wooden structure is covered with a white fibreglass membrane and a coating of teflon, which has the distinction of being self-cleaning, protect from direct sunlight while providing a transparent at night. And last, but not least, the avant-garde roof architecture has inspired quite a few nicknames for the bulding: the most prominent among them ‘Smurf House’ and ‘Chinese Hat’.

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Metz 2014