BPI Lumière: a temporary home for the Centre Pompidou’s library

While the Centre Pompidou is closed for renovation until 2030, its Bibliothèque publique d’information (BPI) continues in a temporary home in the Lumière building in Bercy, Paris. Andrés Mariño Maza, who designed furniture for the library at Beaubourg, worked on the design drawings and 3D models of furniture for the Lumière fit-out.

Accueil information desk at the BPI Lumière

Context

The BPI closed at the Centre Pompidou on 2 March 2025 and opened at Lumière on 25 August 2025. The library occupies the second and third floors of the building’s south wing at 40 avenue des Terroirs de France, in Paris’s 12th arrondissement, near the Parc de Bercy: more than 8,000 m² and around 1,500 seats (bpi.fr).

These were office floors, with lower ceilings and more partitions than the open floor plates at Beaubourg. The move combined reuse with new design. Many elements came from Beaubourg, including table tops and almost all the seating (pro.bpi.fr), and the BPI created a new range of furniture suited to how the library is used today (Livres Hebdo). The architect for the relocation was Luis Cercós.

  • Client: Bibliothèque publique d’information (BPI), Centre Pompidou
  • Location: Lumière building, 40 avenue des Terroirs de France, 75012 Paris
  • Opening: 25 August 2025
  • Architect: Luis Cercós
  • Furniture design: Andrés Mariño Maza, MarinoMaza Studio

Design work

A selection of Andrés’s design drawings and 3D models for the Lumière fit-out, produced between 2023 and 2025.

Information desks

A family of information desks in two- and three-person versions of different lengths, some with storage towers.

3D render of an information desk with two workstations and a storage tower

3D render of an information desk next to the computer study area

3D model of information desk type 1 with dimensions

Acoustic booths

An acoustic booth clad in timber slats, in a single-person version and a larger one.

3D render of the acoustic booth with slatted wood cladding

3D model of the acoustic booth interior with round table and wood counter

3D render of the single acoustic booth, front view

Study and work tables

The Lumière study table, with modules for reading and for computers, integrated power and dividers, shown in wood and in white. Alongside it: a reading table for the façade, self-training workstations, a cinema viewing table and a meeting table.

3D render of the Lumière study table in wood with Strand lamps

3D render of the Lumière study table in white with Strand lamps

3D model of the reading table for the façade

3D model of the self-training (autoformation) workstations

3D model of the cinema viewing table

3D model of the meeting table in wood

Seating, display and storage

Upholstered lounge benches with timber armrests, book display units (meubles de valorisation) and staff lockers.

3D model of the Court lounge benches along the curved wall

3D model of the book display units (meubles de valorisation)

3D model of the staff lockers and bench

Pragmatic sustainability

The aim was to build in ecological criteria without making the project more complicated or expensive: certified, locally sourced wood, CNC cutting to minimise waste and an assembly system that needs no heavy tools, so everything can be put together on site. Everything can be dismantled and moved without special machinery; at the end of the temporary period, 90% of the components can be dismantled and reused.

Installation

Deliveries and installation took place in spring and summer 2025, ahead of the opening, starting from the empty office floors.

Empty floor plate before the library fit-out

Furniture being loaded onto trucks at the workshop

Flat-packed furniture components being palletised

Shelving units arriving on pallets at the library

Newly installed white shelving before the books arrive

Study desks being installed among delivery boxes

The library at Lumière

The furniture is designed to include rather than separate: tables that can be grouped or spread out, varied heights for children and people with reduced mobility, and benches that flow into shared areas. Alongside screen-ready surfaces and quiet zones, the library keeps room for the analogue: textures that invite you to disconnect and spaces where ideas can still meet by chance.

The Lumière building in Bercy, Paris 12th, temporary home of the BPI

Library floor at the BPI Lumière with low shelving and armchairs

Reading tables and seating at the BPI Lumière

Colourful lounge seating area at the BPI Lumière

Stepped seating and stair under a timber ceiling at the BPI Lumière

Red and white shelving units at the BPI Lumière

Aisle of white shelving at the BPI Lumière

Long study tables along the façade at the BPI Lumière

Main circulation route between shelving at the BPI Lumière

Service desk at the BPI Lumière

Open-plan reading area at the BPI Lumière

The BPI Lumière in use after opening

“Libraries are not what they were 50 years ago, but they are still essential.”
Andrés Mariño Maza, in Arquitectura y Diseño (translated from Spanish)

Portrait of designer Andrés Mariño Maza at the BPI Lumière

Display shelving unit with sloped top on opening day

Detail of a white panel with round openings

The project began in the BPI’s original home at the Centre Pompidou. See the Beaubourg project.

Press and sources

Frequently asked questions

Where is the BPI during the Centre Pompidou renovation?

In the Lumière building, 40 avenue des Terroirs de France, Paris 12th, where it opened on 25 August 2025. The Centre Pompidou’s renovation is planned to last until 2030.

Is the furniture the same as at Beaubourg?

Partly. The BPI reused many elements from Beaubourg, including table tops and almost all the seating (pro.bpi.fr), and created a new range of furniture for the Lumière building (Livres Hebdo). Andrés’s design drawings and 3D models for the Lumière fit-out are shown above.

What happens to the furniture after 2030?

It was designed to be dismantled and moved without special machinery, and to be able to return to the renovated Centre Pompidou. Whether it does is the institution’s decision.

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