Coop Himmelb(l)au, Musée des Confluences, Lyon

Since the end of the 20th century, an unprecedented number of remarkable museums have been built. None have had bigger worldwide implications than Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Until, that is, the new Musée des Confluences in Lyon was opened to the public, in late 2014. It was created by Wolf D. Prix of the Coop Himmelb(l)au team, which was founded in the 1970s. Many avantgarde groups from those wild years such as Archigram, Superstudio, Archizoom, Haus-Rucker- Co, and the Japanese Metabolists are now consigned to the past, but the Coop Himmelb(l)au architecture firm, whose special aspiration was always to bring into the world buildings that overcome the pull of the earth buildings to float on the horizon like clouds is more in demand than ever. The finest demonstration of this endeavour to date can now be admired in Lyon. Functioning as a museum of human history, this impressive concrete, metal and glass colossus truly does appear to float above the peninsula at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône. Like the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, this new building, so impossible to overlook, is an inspiration for the revitalisation of disrupted urban areas and the valorisation of derelict industrial areas within the city precincts, but also far beyond Lyon. This 'Opus' volume deals with the origins, construction, function and formal appearance of the Musée des Confluences, and also offers a preliminary theoretically based evaluation of the architecture of the building.