Le Beffroi

Le Beffroi is a building in Port-aux-Français, on the city's university campus. Located in the La Synagogue neighbourhood, it houses the Faculty of Arts of the University of Kerguelen and a small arts museum with works by Édouard de Fervières-Lesvériés de la Fourrière and, amongst others.

Description


Le Beffroi is a  building made out of natural stone imported from  and. The building is predominantly built from red and brown-to-black natural stone, with the high-arched windows and doorways fimbrillated with light.

The building consists of three main parts: the Grand Hall or Grande Salle, where a lecture hall, a relatively small library, a canteen, and the museum are vested; the Nave or Nef, where the classrooms, art studios, and offices of academic staff are located; and the building's namesake, the Belfry or Beffroi, a clocktower next to which is a balcony where students and staff can sit after or between classes.

The entire building consists of two floors, with the exception of the lecture hall and the clocktower. Part of the canteen is also open to the second floor, with the second floor balcony home to the library. The Nave provides sixty classrooms and 16 art studios.

History
When in 1962 the government of the Southern Indian Ocean Islands expressed the intention to create the University of Kerguelen, they discussed the preferred architectural nature of every single building for the new university. They eventually settled on that the building housing the University of Kerguelen's faculty of arts should be in the (technically therefore ) style, in 1963.

Several proposals were submitted by architects for the building, and in 1964 the proposal for a clocktower building by architect John Manning was selected. The design committee's argumentation for the selection of Manning's design was that "it is simplistic yet impressive, showing simultaneously grandeur and humility, where a person could feel proud of and warmly welcomed by the building, without a sense of superiority or architectural intimidation".

Building started in 1965 as part of the construction of the Port-aux-Français University Campus, and saw no major construction problems. Construction finished in 1970, and the building was opened in 1972.