Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, Gianfranco Franchini (later Piano+Rogers Architects) and Ove Arup & Partners. Beaubourg Center, now the Pompidou Center, competition project, elevation on the piazza, June 1971. Print on paper. Pompidou Center Archives, collection of plans for the construction of the Beaubourg plateau, Paris . Image © Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers. Courtesy of Renzo Piano and Ruth Rogers
On January 30, an exhibition entitled “Concours Beaubourg 1971: Une mutation de l’architecture” opened in Paris, showcasing archival material from the competition that resulted in the selection of the current Centre Pompidou, designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers between 1969 and 1974. In view of the building’s recent closure for renovation, approximately 100 archival documents, including some never before exhibited from the Centre Pompidou’s collections (plans, drawings, photographs, models, etc.), are on display at the Académie d’Architecture at Place des Vosges until February 22, 2026. Co-produced by the Académie d’Architecture and the Centre Pompidou, with support from the École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Saint-Étienne, the exhibition presents alternative, imaginative, and sometimes unbuildable proposals for the building. It offers a review of a fertile period in architectural history, highlighting the lasting effects of the “Beaubourg competition” on the discipline and profession.