Bernard Tschumi
panorama photos:
Coert Verkuyl
We could either demolish the parts that were most affected by time - among others, the beautiful vaulted hall to the south of the complex - and thus lose a large part of the magic of the site; or we could, faithfully and at great expense, restore all parts that were weakened or susceptible to further deterioration; or we could radically protect the most spectacular parts of Fresnoy with a big roof, thus sheltering them from bad weather while installing all necessary technical installations (ductwork, airconditioning, stage mechanisms) on the underside of the roof.
After studying the cost of each of these options, the last solution appeared by far the most satisfactory, not only from the financial but also from the architectural, programmatic and technical point of view.