Located on the edge of 10 hectares of forest and not far from the Meudon observatory, Hangar Y is a former warehouse for airships. In 2018, Didier Gouband, president of the Culture and Heritage group, and Frédéric Jousset, president of the ArtNova impact fund, signed an administrative emphyteutic lease for development with the State, owner of the premises.
It was the mayor of Meudon, Denis Larghero (UDI), who played the “facilitator” for the project by putting investors in contact with the Ministries of Culture and the Economy, local authorities and urban planning departments. . The thirty-five-year lease was granted on the condition that everything be rehabilitated (27 million euros of work) and made a place of mixed audiences with various cultural events. In return, the staff needed to operate Hangar Y is recruited with the help of the town hall to ensure local hiring.
A cultural place, a restaurant and a workshop
“The work began in July 2021 and the first section was delivered at the end of September, explains Didier Gouband. We have kept the spirit of the hangar by preserving the large interior space as much as possible, and we have created a huge glass gable to make bring in natural light.” Two mezzanines have been installed on the sides of the 23-meter-high central nave. This 2,800 square meter building is designed to host exhibitions and events, both public and private (fashion shows, corporate parties, etc.).
Le Perchoir Y, located on the edge of the pond, will open in April 2023
© / Studio Perrier
Meeting on neutral ground
Right next to Hangar Y, two new buildings have been created. The first will host educational workshops for children and adults. The second will house a restaurant, Perchoir Y, which will open its doors in early April 2023.
Located on the edge of the pond, “it will have the same epicurean DNA as our other places: we will eat very well there but without taking the lead”, assures Adrien Boissaye, co-founder of Le Perchoir, who has already installed a guinguette-barbecue on the land this summer. Hangar Y is located halfway between Meudon, a well-to-do town, and Meudon-la-Forêt, a more popular town, where Renault factory workers lived in the 1960s. Didier Gouband does not hide his desire to bring these two worlds together “on neutral ground”. “And even three, because the place is also intended to attract the Parisian population.” “The goal is for the public to come as much for a cultural event as for a walk in the forest or a picnic on the lawns of the royal perspective designed by Le Nôtre, adds Didier Gouband. It is a real place of convergence.”