In the perspective of a general makeover of the building, the Ministry of Public Building commissioned the architectural office Ballini & Pitt (Luxembourg) to conduct an estimate of the necessary works and to report on the building’s overall state in 1991-1992. But it was only during the preparation of a programme for ‘Luxembourg, European Cultural Capital 1995’ that the wish developed to convert the old Casino Bourgeois into an exhibition space. As a consequence, artist-architect Urs Raussmüller, director of the Hallen für Neue Kunst in Schaffhausen, who had only just succeeded in converting the Espace Rennes in Paris, was called upon.

As he became aware of the short notice at which new exhibition spaces needed to be conceptualised and created for the cultural year 1995, and after considering the city council’s plans to build a museum structure at a later date, Urs Raussmüller suggested to dispense with the Casino Luxembourg’s intended general renovation for the time being, and instead proposed to install a structure capable of hosting temporary exhibitions inside the building. In October 1993, the government commissioned the architect to convert the Casino Bourgeois into an exhibition space – for a limited time span only – and gave him the full responsibility over its interior furnishings.

His task was to create a space that could fit the requirements of the temporary exhibitions planned in the course of the cultural year. Whereas the size, height and number of rooms in the Casino seemed destined for such a purpose, the walls themselves disposed of too little hanging space for art exhibitions.