To better welcome the public to the Assembly, a project already contested

The future building, scheduled to open in 2028 following a larger project costing around 53 million euros, will replace the current pavilion, which is cramped and ill-suited to the influx of visitors.

"Anyone who has ever visited the National Assembly knows that we welcome the public in deplorable conditions," Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet lamented at a press conference on Thursday.

She, who has made the Assembly's open policy a priority, with now around 200.000 visitors per year, points out in particular "groups waiting in the street" or the lack of places for school groups to have lunch.

In 2023, it launched an architectural competition, with a jury composed of Assembly officials in charge of heritage, external architects, and former presidents of the institution.

The winning project is unanimously approved in September 2024 by the Assembly's bureau, its highest executive body.

But the release of a visual showing the future glass facade, attached to the famous steps of the historic building, triggered an outraged reaction from several elected members of the National Rally at the end of June.

"It's disgusting, ugly, and in poor taste," slams RN MP Matthias Renault. "Fed up with the waste of public money that disfigures our heritage," chimes in his colleague Jean-Philippe Tanguy.

A petition calling for the project to be cancelled has even been launched by an association, Sites & Monuments.

Using the budgetary argument, RN vice-president Sébastien Chenu called in an interview with the JDD on Saturday for a moratorium "on the 30 to 50 million planned to reorganize the visitor reception area" of the Assembly, in the name of the institution's exemplary nature in terms of public spending.

4.000 m2

These criticisms leave the project's architect, Alain Moatti, unmoved.

These amount to "generalities," "point-blank opinions, but without anyone who really knows the project," he told AFP. "I suppose that among the critics, there are many people who are against it," Yaël Braun-Pivet said.

The new pavilion will have the same dimensions as the current one (10 meters high), built in the XNUMXth century and of "little heritage interest," according to the Moatti-Rivière agency. The winner of the competition, it notably redesigned the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.

The Pavilion of Discord will in the future house the Assembly's shop and a cafeteria with around fifty seats upstairs.

Its façade, facing the Seine, will be made of four glass cylinders, echoing the colonnade of the Palais Bourbon, and symbolizing the four values ​​of the Republic: secular, indivisible, social and democratic.

The project was presented to the French Buildings Architect and "fully complies" with the regulations applying to protected areas such as this one, according to Mr. Moatti.

But above all, "the pavilion is one-fifth of the project; the real project is underground," the architect emphasizes.

Two levels will be dug out beneath the current courtyard, totaling approximately 4.000 m² of space, with a glass roof serving as a skylight, changing rooms, and an auditorium. This will double the capacity.

An educational trail, with scenography created by the same agency, is also planned, "immersive and innovative," according to the Assembly.

"A little flashy"

"I understand that the architectural choice doesn't suit some," but it was made "under very transparent conditions," Ms. Braun-Pivet defended. Although she found the project "particularly successful," she recalled that she was not part of the jury.

Bernard Accoyer, former president of the National Assembly from 2007 to 2012, participated in the deliberations. The selected project was not his favorite. He considered it "a little conspicuous," "not discreet enough compared to the historic façade," he told AFP.

But "I fully respect the jury's decision, which was reached by a large majority," he added.

For him, there is only one imperative now: not to compromise on any "budget overruns" for the work. Funded by the Assembly's reserves, they should be able to begin in early 2026, according to Mr. Moatti.