Coop Himmelb(l)au, Musee des Confluences, Lyon: Opus 79

The Musée des Confluences in Lyon was opened in 2014. It was created by Wolf D. Prix of the Coop Himmelb(l)au team, which was founded in the 1970s. Many avant-garde groups from those wild years are now consigned to the past, but the Coop Him-melb(l)au architecture firm is more in demand than ever. Functioning as a museum of human history, this impressive concrete, metal and glass colossus truly does appear to float above the peninsula at the con-fluence of the Rhône and the Saône. This Opus volume deals with the origins, construction, function and formal appearance of the Musée des Confluences, and also offers a preliminary theoretically based evaluation of the architecture of the building.