Museum will house more than 1,000 stone relief funerary blocks in southern France

Architect Foster & Partners has won a contract to design a new museum of Roman artefacts in Narbonne in southern France.

The building will centre around a collection of over 1,000 stone relief funerary blocks excavated nearby and includes restoration facilities, galleries for temporary and permanent exhibitions and a multimedia education centre.

Spencer de Grey, senior partner and head of design at Foster & Partners, said: “We have been inspired by the setting, by Narbonne’s climate and by the city’s fascinating collection of Roman artefacts. All of the internal and even some external walls can be rearranged – its flexibility mirrors the live excavation site, a shelter to accommodate the exploration within.”

The practice will work with museum designer Adrien Gardere on the project.

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