The construction of a centre for the expression of Kanak culture was a decision the French government took during the peace conference that followed the uprisings of 1984 and 1988 in New Caledonia. The centre is named after the Kanak leader who was assassinated in 1989. The Agency for the Development of Kanak Culture, chaired by Marie-Claude Tjibaou, ran an international competition that was also placed under the patronage of the President of France.
This very beautiful site lies about ten kilometres east of Noumea. The promontory takes the form of a peninsula between the ocean and the lagoon. The setting produces strong contrasts: one side faces the prevailing winds and deep waters, while the other side faces the lagoon and is very calm. The scheme has been drawn from the form and the rise of the site. The plan extends along a spine that follows the crest line of the peninsula. As in Kanak villages, the road gives coherence to the ensemble. The buildings sit on either side in three groups, without any particular symmetry, and are separated by gardens. In this way three villages are created, each one an island with a definite function and with spaces for the display of traditional and contemporary Kanak culture: an amphitheatre, a library, a media-library, and educational laboratories.
The road is 230 metres long. On one side, low constructions slope gently down towards the lagoon. On the other side, set against the constant easterly winds, we see tall buildings that present the visual metaphor of traditional Kanak dwellings. In the winning scheme there is no deliberate display. The only explicit reference to the past is in the materials and in the way wood is worked and the pieces are curved. These buildings are not just plain imitations of traditional Kanak “coffers” — the name given to the local dwellings — but have taken their distinctive form from a way of building characteristic of the Pacific region that uses natural ventilation. Ventilation is carried out by drawing a cool air flow in through the upper part of the building. The coffers are designed to receive winds that almost always blow from a single direction, and continuously to lower the interior temperature so that hot air is constantly expelled. It is evident that these structures are designed to withstand every climatic event, especially tropical storms.
The smaller buildings establish a close relationship with the natural environment around them. The attention paid to landscape in New Caledonia is an art deeply tied to Kanak culture. The natural space between the coffers and around them is revived and preserved in precisely the same way that the Melanesian people traditionally employ to protect their natural surroundings.
High technology underpins the genesis of a project whose foundation lies in the notion of memory. In this manner — “high technology, gentle execution” — modernity, nature and tradition are reconciled.
