This ochre-colorer monolithic concrete is embedded in the historic Joffre Camp of Rivesaltes in France, sets a subtle but inevitable impact for the Rivesaltes Memorial Museum, designed by Rudy Ricciotti and Passelac & Roques. 

The Rivesaltes Memorial Museum is also among the 5-shortlisted projects for the 2017 Mies Van Der Rohe Award. The 240-metre-long museum is located in the Camp Maréchal Joffre, which is known as a military camp in the commune of Rivesaltes nearby Perpignan in the department of Pyrénées-Orientales in the South of France.

Image © Kevin Dolmaire  

''We cannot remain detached from the history of Camp Joffre through a discourse that is indifferent to the human drama that unfolded on this very site,'' said the architect.

Encompassing a total of 420,000 square meters area and 3,590 square meters usable floor area, the museum also expressed as 'silent' and 'ponderous.' ''It is there to take the hits instead of others. For absentees. It must be something that embodies the responsibility of the memory.''

Image © Kevin Dolmaire 

The Rivesaltes Memorial Museum lies in the earth, squarely facing block F, with a calm and silent determination, untouchable, angled towards the sky. 

At once buried in, and emerging from the earth, the memorial appears on the surface of the natural landscape as one enters the camp, and stretches to the eastern extremity of the former meeting place, to a height that is level with the roofs of the existing bunkhouses. This arrangement or co-visibility does not hinder a reading of the features of block F. 

Image © Kevin Dolmaire 

The effects of erosion over time are noticeable in some of the buildings, thereby marking erasure and absence, questioning the visitor memory or oblivion. The Memorial of Rivesaltes, compressed between earth and sky, between past and memory, is located exactly in the present and the life itself. 

Image © Kevin Dolmaire

In this desert environment, a few dozen metres away, it no longer exists. Its formal violence demonstrates the impossibility of forgetting! Excavation and petrification of an erased memory.

Image © Kevin Dolmaire

The concrete looks like as integral part of the construction and is the only structural scripture. The memorial is represented by an ochre-colored concrete monolith casted in place. The massiveness of the material was achieved by a technology allowing to avoid the formwork holes. 

Image © Kevin Dolmaire

Visitors reach to memorial by the indirect pathway via a ramp that is partially buried in the ground. This tunnel ends abruptly: the visitor finds himself facing a block that is 240 metres long. 

Image © Kevin Dolmaire

The memorial offers no view of the exterior, except for the sky. Three patios structure the organization of the learning labs, social area and offices, all the while providing a certain sense of comfort.

Image © Kevin Dolmaire

Image © Kevin Dolmaire

Image © Kevin Dolmaire

Image © Kevin Dolmaire

Image © Kevin Dolmaire

Image © M. Hédelin

Image © M. Hédelin

Basement plan

Ground floor plan

Section

Top image © M. Hédelin 

> via Rudy Ricciotti