Centre Pompidou (Beaubourg) — Library Furniture Design
Custom shelving, reading tables and workstations for the Bibliothèque publique d’information (BPI), the public library inside the Centre Pompidou in Paris, designed before the building closed for renovation in March 2025.
About the project
The Centre Pompidou, known in Paris as Beaubourg, houses the Bibliothèque publique d’information (BPI), one of the most visited public libraries in Europe. In 2021, Andrés Mariño Maza was invited to submit a proposal for furniture the library needed to renew. He presented three options; one was selected, and the commission grew to more than 500 pieces: shelving, reading tables, internet workstations and study counters, all designed to sit within Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers’ high-tech architecture.
The BPI closed its Beaubourg site on 2 March 2025, when the Centre Pompidou began its 2025–2030 renovation. This page documents the work as it stood in the original building.
- Client: Bibliothèque publique d’information (BPI), Centre Pompidou
- Location: Centre Pompidou, Beaubourg, Paris 4th arrondissement
- Year: 2021 onwards
- Scope: More than 500 custom furniture pieces: shelving, reading tables, workstations, study counters
- Designer: Andrés Mariño Maza, MarinoMaza Studio
Design approach: working with the building’s colours
The Centre Pompidou is defined by its colour-coded structure: blue for air, green for water, red for circulation. Instead of neutral furniture, each piece picks up those colours so it reads as part of the building. Reds were matched on site to the original surfaces against RAL 3020 traffic red.
Shelving under the escalator
The largest piece fills the awkward triangular space beneath the library’s internal escalator. The stepped shelving follows the slope of the escalator. It combines open book storage with a fold-out red desk and drop-down benches, so one wall works as storage, a reading nook and seating.
Internet workstations and reading tables
A row of eight internet stations sits against a single green backboard, with white dividers giving each user a private bay. On the reading floor, long tables have green divider panels and built-in power sockets for laptops.
Study counters along the façade
Slim white counters on green steel legs run along the glazed façade, giving readers a place to work with a view onto the building’s exposed pipework.
Details
Smaller interventions carried the same language through the space: a red panelled surround for the library elevator, and doors with porthole windows.
Designing alongside the originals
New pieces had to sit next to the library’s original 1970s furniture, including the Beaubourg chair designed for the Pompidou library by Michel Cadestin and Georges Laurent. Heights and proportions were checked on site against these originals, with BPI staff, before the final pieces were made.
In the press
- Arquitectura y Diseño — “Andrés Mariño, diseñador para el Centre Pompidou” (November 2025)
- The Objective — “Del taller a París: así diseñó Andrés Marino más de 500 piezas para el Centre Pompidou” (November 2025)
Frequently asked questions
What did Andrés Mariño Maza design for the Centre Pompidou?
More than 500 custom furniture pieces for the Bibliothèque publique d’information (BPI), the public library inside the Centre Pompidou (Beaubourg) in Paris, including shelving, reading tables, internet workstations and study counters. The commission began in 2021.
Why are the pieces red and green?
The colours come from the Centre Pompidou’s own colour-coded architecture. Reds were matched on site to RAL 3020 traffic red.
Is the BPI still at Beaubourg?
No. The BPI closed at the Centre Pompidou on 2 March 2025 for the building’s 2025–2030 renovation and moved to the Lumière building in Paris’s 12th arrondissement in August 2025.
