LUMA Arles

The LUMA Tower is the most dramatic piece of contemporary architecture in Arles — a 56-metre Frank Gehry building that emerges from the old railway yards on the southern edge of the city centre. Its exterior of 11,000 angled reflective steel panels catches light differently at every hour, shifting from silver to gold to near-white depending on the sky.

The arts campus surrounding it — created by Swiss patron Maja Hoffmann — includes exhibition spaces, workshops, a library, an auditorium, and a café. The programme is ambitious and international, with residencies, film, design, and visual art. The tower itself can be visited on a separate ticket with views over Arles and the Camargue on clear days.

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A story
Frank Gehry said he designed the building's 11,000 stainless steel panels to capture the quality of light in Van Gogh's Starry Night — which was painted just 25 kilometres from here, in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. On a bright Provencal afternoon the tower does seem to shimmer and shift like a painted sky.