The Centre Pompidou-Metz is a museum of modern and contemporary arts in Metz. It is a branch of Pompidou arts centre of Paris, and features semi-permanent and temporary exhibitions from the large collection of the French National Museum of Modern Art, the largest European collection of 20th and 21st century arts. The museum is the largest temporary exhibition space outside Paris with  54,000 sq ft divided between 3 galleries, a theatre, and an auditorium.

The Centre Pompidou-Metz is a large hexagon structured round a central spire reaching 77 m (253 ft), alluding to the 1977 opening date of the original Centre Pompidou of Paris. It possesses three rectangular galleries (Gallery 1, 2, and 3) weaving through the building at different levels, jutting out through the roof with huge picture windows angled towards landmarks such as the Saint-Stephen Gothic cathedral, the Imperial railway station, the Arsenal Concert Hall.

The roof is the major achievement of the building: a 90 m (300 ft) wide hexagon echoing the building’s floor map. With a surface area of (86,000 sq ft, the roof structure is composed of sixteen kilometres of glued laminated timber, that intersect to form hexagonal wooden units resembling the cane-work pattern of a Chinese hat.

This building is a work of art in its own right, it is a collaboration of a number of architects from around the world, each designing a piece of this spectacular structure.