The programme is composed of three institutions : the Brittany Museum, the Library, and the Science Centre. At the time of the invitation for proposals, in 1993, these institutions were very active in the city, were all well-established, but were independent.
The idea of Edmond Hervé (Mayor of Rennes and President of Rennes Métropole) of combining these three educational centres on the same site was excellent. It was to create a synergy, to mix the types of users, cultures, and knowledge in a stimulating way. However, it seemed to me carry a risk that individuals could lose themselves within it, fading away into a large bureaucratised container.
In the original scale models, the whole of the building was white, but I wanted to differentiate the colours and materials of the three architectural component parts. However, I did not want to construct a UFO, a building without any connection with the city. It was the materials and colours visible in Rennes which thus helped to guide me with, first of all, the red schist which is so distinctive a feature throughout the department of Ille et Vilaine.
I wanted the great table, the dolmen of the Brittany Museum, to have the appearance of stone. I worked a lot with concrete, designing the relief on which we then worked with the sculptor, Martin Wallace, to produce a scale model.