Musée du Débarquement overlooks the remains of the historic Mulberry B harbor, blending contemporary architecture with the Normandy coastline. Designed by Projectiles, the memorial features expansive transparent façades made possible by Forster steel profile systems. Photos: Antoine Cardi.
Overlooking the remains of Mulberry B harbor in Arromanches-les-Bains, France, stands a glass and steel World War II museum that bridges the gap between past and present. The Musée du Débarquement was inaugurated in 2023, 69 years after the original museum’s opening in 1954.
The museum faces the English Channel and Mulberry B, an artificial harbor constructed by the British following the D-Day landings in June 1944 and is surrounded by the historic charm of Arromanches-les-Bains. According to Forster Systems, the new building captures the historical significance of the site and makes the coastline itself one of the exhibits.
Forster supplied several products for the project, including steel profile systems, entrance portals and fire-resistant doors. Company officials say 26-feet-high columns, a cantilevered porch and joists spanning up to 39 feet define the structural order of the building.
“They enable spacious, column-free exhibition areas to be created and can be clearly seen in the facade grid design,” state officials. “The appearance is reminiscent of the Phoenix breakwaters, which were embedded in the sea as huge concrete caissons when the Allies landed. Between the concrete columns, large, glazed areas offer up a view of the coastline, and the architecture here acts as a precise framework for remembrance.”