MUSÉE DES ARTS DU COGNAC
2001-2002
Architecture : Jean Jaques BEGUE, Bernard PEYRICHOU,
Hervé BEAUDOUIN et Benoît ENGEL.
Maître d'ouvrage : Ville de COGNAC
Maçonnerie de pierre de récupération : Entreprise LEGRAND à Chef Boutonne (79)

The museum is part of Boussac’s Hôtel Perrin near the Charente’s banks in the ancient town centre of Cognac.
The architecture of the museum is divided into two parts: one of them old restructured rehabilitated and a more recent one housing the reception hall and two galleries surrounding a square planted with vines.
Those two galleries give access to a large newly-rebuilt wine store house (all the buildings having been damaged by fire.)
The project was an opportunity for ancient ramparts as well as a defensive tower’s foundations to be uncovered. The south gallery is a walk in a circle built on the ramparts.
This project expands, on a big scale, the use of limestone concrete developed for the Cour Michelet’s walls in Niort. The galleries are built using this technique by the same company.
Numerous cantilevers prove that this technique equals the good results of normal concrete.
The insulated walls are particularly thick: 40cm.
The surface processing is the same on the inside and outside walls.
Vertical and horizontal slits let the light dimly in.
These slits’ windows are put in on the bare concrete in clefts hollowed out in the walls.
The windows’ bindings are made of oak. This technique has been tested in the Centre de Rencontres in Niort.
The ramparts’ moat has been reconstructed. The “Salle verte” square is also being reconsidered.
The paths, themes and scenography have been thoughtfully designed in order to highlight not only the product’s history, Cognac, but also the ancillary industries that have expanded around this product: glass factories, printing houses, packaging, corks, etc…