An 18th-century grain exchange has been converted into Paris’s newest art museum and will house billionaire François Pinault’s extensive collection of contemporary art.

Tadao Ando oversaw the transformation of the heritage-listed Bourse de Commerce, installing a new 33-metre-wide concrete cylinder inside its original dome. It makes for a stark contrast with the building’s historic murals and the double helix staircase originally used to lug heavy grain sacks into storerooms.

Pinault has rented the building for the next 50 years, meaning all of Ando’s work had to be completely reversible and subject to strict rules from the historic building authorities.

The opening of the Bourse de Commerce marks the conclusion of a 20-year-effort by Pinault to find a home for his art collection, which included failed plans to build a new museum on an abandoned island on the Seine.

Reports suggest that a vast proportion of his artworks haven’t been seen by the public before, and includes over 10,000 works from the 1960s onwards.

Pinault, who is the CEO of luxury conglomerate Kering, says he hopes the museum allows people to ‘feel better at the exit than they did at the entrance.’

2 Rue de Viarmes, 75001 Paris, France

Meet the 2021 Turner Prize nominees – the first all-collective list in history