Arles, once the provincial capital of the Roman Empire, is a town on the Rhône in Provence. Numerous remains of buildings bear witness to this period. In addition, the world-famous painter Vincent van Gogh lived and worked here for a time and was inspired by the area and its special atmosphere.
The "Luma Arles" is a well-known cultural complex that was founded in 2013. Here, artists are given the opportunity to experiment and create new works together with other artists, scientists, inventors and the public.
Maja Hoffmann, art collector and co-heiress of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La-Roche, acquired the several-hectare site back in 2010 for around ten million euros. The patron of the arts invested a further 150 million euros in the expansion of the new cultural centre.
The new attraction and centre of the new cultural hotspot is the 56-metre-high "Arts Resource Building" tower, which is visible from far away. It was designed by state architect Frank Gehry.
More than 11.000 aluminium panels make the building look like a shiny rock and provide spectacular light reflections by day and night. Each of these plates is unique and has been provided with a scan code with assembly instructions to ensure that the tower is built according to plan.
Inside the tower, two slides from our company complete the artistic ensemble. As with numerous other extraordinary projects, the artist Carsten Höller was also involved here. Work on this exciting project began in 2016. There were many designs and possible positions for the slides until the choice finally fell on the main building.
The two 30-metre-long slides start from a height of 12 metres. As with all joint projects we have realised with Carsten Höller so far, this double installation is also equipped with a transparent polycarbonate cover and sensor-controlled traffic lights. Special starts and run-outs ensure that people with disabilities can also use the slides safely.
