Terceo provides indoor and outdoor lighting for the Dobrée museum in Nantes

Terceo was awarded the contract for the Musée Dobrée's high-power electrical works, electrical distribution and lighting, both inside and out, in a consortium with Bouygues Construction, Equans (Axima) and Rennes-based Lepage Électronique (in charge of LV electrical facilities: IT, fire safety and access control). The refurbishment took three years to complete, one of which was spent on preliminary studies, while the teams in charge of the structural work cleaned out the building to expose the stone walls and clay floor.

The museum's architectural complex, surrounded by Anglo-Norman gardens, comprises three separate buildings linked to each other underground :

• The Maison Dobrée, a neo-medieval palace housing the 2,000 m2 permanent exhibition of the museum's works including the famous reliquary of Anne de Bretagne's heart,

• The Manoir de la Touche, a 15th-century building reserved for temporary exhibitions, to which has been added a glass extension designed by architects Atelier Novembre and housing a monumental staircase illuminated by our experts,

• The 20th-century Voltaire building, housing all the museum's administrative offices, as well as the public reception area, café and shop...

"All the lighting in the exhibition rooms is automated, and museum staff can dim the lights using a Wi-Fi-connected touchscreen tablet. The same applies to the display cases, which are fully networked with the building's central building management system," explained Branch Manager Julien Daviet. "The floors and woodwork were completely dismantled to keep cable routing as unobtrusive as possible. A company specializing in 3D imaging modelled all the rooms one after the other, enabling the custom-made light fittings to match the exact design of the cornices and mouldings," he added.

Our specialists made a large number of cut-outs in the stone walls to accommodate the cables. They also had to anticipate the wiring needed to light the statues decorating the roofs, as this area would be inaccessible once the roof space had been closed in by the other trades.

Mission accomplished for our Terceo experts, who put their know-how to work on the lighting design created by London firm Temeloy, enabling this Nantes and Loire institution to light up like never before in front of its visitors' eyes.