La Pointe des Arts brings a new mixed-use cultural district to the upstream tip of Île Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, where the Seine meets one of Grand Paris’s most ambitious urban transformations. Developed by Emerige, Ardian Real Estate and AOG, the project covers more than 53,000 square meters and brings together architecture, culture, hospitality, offices, retail, public space and landscape design on one of the Paris region’s most historically charged islands.
ARCHITECTURE
The project marks a new chapter for Île Seguin, a site long tied to the industrial memory of the Paris region. Its redevelopment aims to reconnect the island with public life, opening it to residents, workers and visitors through a program built around culture and daily use. La Pointe des Arts expands the island’s existing cultural identity, already shaped by La Seine Musicale, the music and performing arts centre designed by Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines, which opened in 2017.
At the centre of the development sits Large, cultures contemporaines, a new hybrid art centre dedicated to the French contemporary art scene. Directed by Paula Aisemberg, Large will open to the public in autumn 2026 within the architectural project devised by RCR Arquitectes, winners of the 2017 Pritzker Prize, in collaboration with CALQ Architecture. Its opening marks a major shift for Île Seguin, giving public access to a site shaped by a century of industrial activity.
Large will launch with Imaginary Engine: From Masterpieces of the Collection Renault to Artists of Today, presented from 17 October 2026 in collaboration with the Fonds Renault pour l’Art et la Culture. Curated by Cecilia Alemani, the exhibition looks directly at the island’s history as the former home of Renault factories. Through works focused on humans, machines and the automobile, the show connects the industrial memory of Île Seguin with contemporary artistic questions.
The exhibition brings together historic works from the Renault collection by artists including Vasarely, Dubuffet, Tinguely and Doisneau, alongside contemporary works. Large has also commissioned 17 new pieces for the opening exhibition, with artists including Théo Mercier, Sara Sadik, Bianca Bondi, Clément Cogitore, Bertrand Lavier, Mohamed El Khatib, Oliver Beer, Bertille Bak, Thu Van Tran and Giulia Andreani. Structured across five chapters, The Factory of My Thoughts, Social Bodies, Motor Forces, Objects of Desire and The Human Machine, the exhibition examines the industrial utopias of the 20th century and the technological and social transformations shaping the present.
Around this cultural anchor, the wider La Pointe des Arts program adds an 8-screen Pathé cinema with an IMAX theatre, 7,000 square meters of retail space, 20,000 square meters of offices and a 230-room 4-star hotel with balconies and views of the Seine. The hotel, designed by Baumschlager Eberle with interiors by Maison Sarah Lavoine, will also include a panoramic restaurant.
Architecture plays a central role in the project’s identity. RCR Arquitectes collaborate with CALQ Architecture on the office complex, while Baumschlager Eberle brings a separate architectural voice to the hotel. These buildings form part of a larger landscape strategy led by Michel Desvigne, who designed the island’s outdoor spaces, from the public garden along the Seine to 3,000 square meters of planted terraces.
The project has been conceived as a walkable metropolitan destination. Streets, squares, covered areas, open-air paths, riverbanks and planted spaces connect the program and frame views across both sides of the island. The design encourages movement through cultural, commercial and natural spaces, allowing the island to function as a place to visit, work, stay and gather.
La Pointe des Arts also forms part of the wider Vallée de la Culture initiative, launched by the Hauts-de-Seine department to strengthen cultural venues and events across the region. Within that context, the project does more than fill a site. It adds another layer to the cultural infrastructure of Grand Paris and positions Île Seguin as a destination shaped by architecture, public life and access to the Seine.
Work began in August 2022, with openings scheduled in phases from 2026. The Gauthier Mougin departmental public park is set to open in spring 2026, followed in autumn by the cinema, shops, restaurants, Emerige’s move-in, Large, the contemporary arts centre and the hotel. Since construction began, the site has also supported employment access, with 170 jobseekers gaining professional experience across more than 84,000 hours worked.
