Hasta La Ideas

The faceted surfaces of this library in the French town of Montauban by Paris architecture studio Colboc Franzen & Associés follow the lines of historical roads bordering the site (+ slideshow).

A former royal road created by Louis XIV influenced the alignment of the second floor, while the ground floor and first floor echo the orientation of a nineteenth century bypass.

There’s a foyer, auditorium, café and exhibition space on the ground floor, a large reading space on the first floor, and reference and work areas above.

Colboc Franzen & Associés twisted the top floor to face a different direction from the levels below, creating a mezzanine that projects through the centre of the building and a tiered seating area in the triangular space that connects it to the floor below.

A large overhang covers the entrance, sheltering visitors from the prevailing winds and noise from the nearby bypass.

Baked clay shingles that reference the brick typically used in the region cover the external walls.

Snøhetta has designed an angular library for an American university that uses a robotic system to retrieve books, while Foster + Partners wants to overhaul a public library in New York by creating a four-level atrium to allow access to unused reading rooms – see all stories about libraries.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

The construction of Montauban’s new multimedia library is the spearhead of an urban redevelopment project in the eastern parts of town. It will form a gateway into the town, an create an identity for neglected neighbourhoods and provide an emblem for the town of Montauban.It also had to reinvent what a library is for. Knowledge is going digital, so what issues have a bearing on this kind of programme? Montauban’s multimedia library gives a spatial context to and a material representation of information and how it is shared.

The land on which the multimedia library is to be built is bordered and intersected by the geometrical lines left by history. The road that cuts across the site is a former royal road laid out by Louis XIV; the old layout and therefore part of the buildings neighbouring the library are governed by this geometry.

The road that runs along the southern side of the site is a 19th-century bypass, whereas the roads and buildings to the north are influenced by the construction of the Chaumes complex between the 1960s and the late 1970s. Designing the project induced us to divide the building into three equal parts – a citizens’ forum, a large reading space called “Imaginary Worlds” that encourages people to explore and meet each other, and reading and working rooms.

By setting the three different parts of the project on top of each other and swivelling the top floor so that it shares a diagonal with two storeys below it and then connecting them by triangulation, we establish an interesting internal space that addresses the project’s needs and takes account of the site’s geometry.

The ground floor and the first floor therefore follow the line of the 19th-century road. The overhang is slightly truncated to echo the bend in the bypass. The second floor is laid out perpendicular to Louis XIV’s road, ensuring that the building and the roof ridge are aligned with the geometry of history. Lastly, the triangulation matches the geometry of the recent urban development in the northern part of the site.

Visitors will therefore approach the library under the northern overhang from the areas where development work is ongoing. The building protects them from the noise from the bypass and from the prevailing southeasterly wind. It also gives architectural expression to the political desire to welcome in local residents, for who have lived through some hard times and whose future development is ongoing.The citizens’ forum on the ground floor is there for use by passers-by and to welcome visitors inside. There is a large foyer that gives the latest news, a literary café, a 120-seater auditorium, and an exhibition room.

It also contains the service entrance and the administrative offices. The central foyer has a direct visual link to the first floor, which houses the “Imaginary Worlds”, a place of exploration and discovery for visitors of all ages. It has tiered reading areas to ensure a visual and spatial connection with the second storey, which is positioned as a mezzanine above the “Imaginary Worlds”, giving it the benefit of natural light when the sun is high in the sky.

Big plate glass windows at the edges of the two flat reading corners frame the stand-out features of the surrounding area, which are the gateway into town, a copse of hundred-year-old trees, and Montauban town centre. The initial geometrical positioning of the building ensures that the interior of the library resonate with the town outside.

Positioning it this way lends structural support to the overhangs. Two main steel girders run along the top floor and carry it, and they are propped up by four posts. Two of these are positioned at the corners of the lower levels, while the other two hold up the points of the overhangs and situated on the sides of the lower floors. This means that there are no carrying walls inside, allowing for extremely flexible usage.

The building is cloaked in a baked clay skin, which is a reference to Montauban’s typical brick exteriors. This skin consists of shingles, which operate as shading devices on some of the ground floor walls. They keep the staff’s offices cool and private. Only the large glass panes of the reading areas pierce the unusual baked clay-coated mass. The use of dyed concrete for the outside areas brings to mind the pebblestones used in the pavements of the old town.

Client: Montauban Town Council
Cost of construction: € 7,200,000 excluding all tax
Surfaces: Parcel area: 4 488 m2, Useable area: 2,965 m2, Net floor area: 3,800 m2
Location: 2 rue Jean Carmet – 82000 Montauban
Project management: Colboc Franzen & Associés, architects
Project manager › Géraud Pin-Barras
Mission › base exe partielle + OPC + furnishings
Technical consultants › Structure: Groupe Alto | Fluids and Green Building – INEX | Finances: Bureau Michel Forgue | Roads and External Works: ATPI | Acoustics: J-P Lamoureux | Landscaping: D Paysage | Lighting: SB.RB | OPC : INAFA

Contractors: LAGARRIGUE BTP et INSE: terracing/ foundations/structural work
RENAUDAT: structural steel work SO.PRI.BAT: steel tanks roofing + waterproofing TROISEL SA: ceramic panel cladding + over- roofing
LUMIERE ET FORCE: high and low voltage electricity
REALCO: outdoor fittings and smooth aluminium façade
CONSTRUCTION SAINT-ELOI: metalwork
MISPOUILLE: plumbing/toilets GTVS: heating/ventilation/air-conditioning
OTIS: elevator
LAGARRIGUE: partitions/doubling/false ceilings
BATTUT: indoor wooden fittings
MERZ FABIEN: tiles/earthenware
LE SOL FRANCAIS: soft floors
VEDEILHE: painting/wall coatings
MALET: roads + external works
CAUSSAT: landscaping

Schedule:
Competition: 2005
Building permit: march 2009
Beginning of building work: June 2010
Date of completion: February 2013

Brief:
Subject reference areas, cafeteria, 120-seater auditorium, exhibition room, car parks

Sustainable development:
– Green Building project (Targets 1, 4, 8 and 10)
– Complies with RT 2005 thermal insulation standards
– Use of certified materials
– Balanced ventilation with heat recovery
– Low noise pollution

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by Colboc Franzen & Associés appeared first on Dezeen.

Visitors can climb a staircase over the roof of this spiralling community centre in Lille by French architects Colboc Franzen & Associés.

The aluminium-clad building has a jolting helical shape that wraps around a central glass atrium.

External staircases connect landings and terraces on each of the four storeys.

The first three levels contain community facilities for different age ranges while the top floor comprises staff offices and accommodation.

More stories about projects in France »

Photography is by Paul Raftery.

Here are some more details from the architects:

L’Arbrisseau Neighbourhood Centre, Lille

A multi-facetted building for every generation

It’s impossible not to notice the L’Arbrisseau neighbourhood centre in the southern suburbs of Lille. Its helical shape, the staircase that winds itself up around the sides of the building and its aluminium cladding, like a space vessel’s, all make it stand out. They create a contrast with a rather disjointed and sometimes deprived urban environment that nonetheless holds some pleasant surprises, including a sunflower swimming pool around the back that is straight out of the Seventies.

However incongruous it might seem, the building was indeed built and designed together with local people and the city council. Users came up with ideas – ranging from the most trivial to the most metaphorical – that were included in the final project. They wanted an aquarium; they’ll find it behind the reception desk. They wanted a library; it’s there all right. But they also wanted a tree to make sure there was the symbol of their neighbourhood, which is called l’Arbrisseau (‘arbre’ is French for tree). And so they got a tree – a 12-metre tree of life with a terrace nestling on each level and a panoramic viewpoint at its tip.

It was Lille City Council’s ambition to create something ‘beautiful’ and ‘high quality’ in the ‘suburbs’. L’Arbrisseau is in the south of Lille, an area that is undergoing radical redevelopment after years of social and economic decline. There is clear political ambition and varied urban landscape offers great potential. This is a tight-knit community: people born in L’Arbrisseau often spend their whole lives here. The challenge for this project was to embody this sense of renewal as well as a certain community spirit.

The building is arranged in a spiral around a central atrium. This means that it faces no particular direction but instead speaks to everyone equally. The plain untreated aluminium cladding of the façade underscores this desire to standardize the sides of the building and adds to its magnetism; the building catches the light and focuses the sun’s rays to form an attractive, shimmering whole.

The project’s distinctive characteristic is that it is open to people of all ages. The tiny tots are on the ground floor, with a mother and child care centre, and a space to receive several groups of 0-4 year olds. Small and slightly older children are accommodated on the first floor, where there is an infant day centre (3-6), a ‘little wings’ area and activity rooms for 6-12 year olds as well as a reading corner. The second floor is the domain of the older generations. There is a multi-purpose hall (intended for weddings and other private and public celebrations) as well as an area used especially for adult integration courses such as cookery and computing. The third floor contains administrative offices and a four-room, on-site staff flat that includes a south-facing terrace. The building’s layout allows each age group to relate directly to the one below it and the one above. This is what makes it unique.

The mother and child care centre is linked to the first-floor centre for 4-12 year olds by a split-level garden. The tiny tots have direct access to the garden. The first floor in turn connects with the teenage and adult floor via the double-storey library. It also enjoys a terrace overhanging the garden. The teenage and adult floor offers a variety of activities ranging from the multi-purpose hall for concerts or weddings to cookery and sewing workshops. A terrace acts as a continuation of the hall and looks out over the grounds to the north. This floor communicates with the top storey of the building. The aim of superimposing the various schemes was to free up the greatest possible space for a garden around the bottom of the building. Stretching the building vertically increases its visibility and its prestige.

All of the different schemes are united around a common atrium. A concrete tower houses the facilities, staircases and lifts, as well as supporting the building. The design of this tower articulates the structural forces acting upon it and the toothing of the girders holding up the floors on either side. The solid, mineral mass and its extruded appearance also bring to mind the region’s characteristic underground chalk quarries (there is one behind the building).

The inside staircase echoes the cut-out façade of the building, allowing the light captured by the terraces filter through the tower like tree branches to produce complex and changing patterns of shadows in the atrium.

The spiral staircase that curls around the outside of the building has a landing – or terrace – on every level, each connected to the next by stairs. Users can get to their activities from outside and also climb up onto the roof of the structure. Here there is a panoramic viewpoint overlooking the L’Arbrisseau neighbourhood with the belfry of Lille City Hall in the distance. This reintegrates the L’Arbrisseau area into the fabric of the city of Lille as well as strengthening its local roots.

Last but not least, the fact that the building’s key elements – the libraries – are two storeys in height creates interesting spatial and visual effects as well as allowing the installation of raked seating. This encourages flexible and improvised use of the space, as befits a neighbourhood centre. It is easy to organise lectures, show videos or arrange reading corners on a particular theme; the terraces can be turned into a children’s playground at one moment and an area for adult activities the next and can also host film screenings, exhibitions and even open-air theatre.

The very particular volume distribution of the L’Arbrisseau neighbourhood centre is emphasised by its untreated aluminium and glass sheathing. There are openings here and there for plate-glass windows that afford different views and let in light. These are covered in materials (metal cladding, mirror glass) selected in accordance with the principles of eco-design and to guarantee users optimum visual and thermal conditions in both summer and winter.

Contracting authority: City of Lille
Architects: Colboc Franzen & Associés, Paris

Cost of construction: €4,076,000 excluding all tax

Area of the plot: 2,030 m2
Usable area: 1,190 m2
Net floor area: 1,779 m2
Gross floor area: 2,927 m2

Location: Crossroads of the future extension of rue de l’Asie and rue Vaisseau le Vengeur, 59000 Lille

Project management: Colboc Franzen & Associés
Project manager: Arnaud Sachet
Team: Ulrich Faudry, Malik Hammadi, Kerstin Heller, Bruno Sarles, Emmanuel Villoutreix, Lena Weis.
Research consultancy: INEX (fluids), C&E ingénierie (structure), JP Lamoureux (acoustician), BM Forgue (economist), PBP (OPC).

Beginning of studies: October 2007
Date of delivery: May 2011

Program

• Basement: Technical premises + 8 parking spaces
• Ground floor: Foyer, mother and child care centre, reception area for various groups, garden
• 1st floor: Day centre without sleeping facilities, area for 6-12 year olds, terrace
• 2nd floor: Area for 12-16 year olds, multi-purpose hall, area for adults, terrace
• 3rd floor: Offices, on-site accommodation, panoramic terrace

Sustainable development

• Mixed concrete and steel construction. Elements prefabricated in workshop.
• Connection to district heating system.
• Reinforced exterior insulation: the heat loss coefficient of the opaque walls and joinery work is on average 50% lower than standard. Thermal inertia is guaranteed by reinforced concrete slabs and the core.
• Thermal break joinery fittings and high-performance glass. 1/3 of the windows can be opened for summer comfort.
• Rainwater management: optimisation of absorption zones, retention and re-use of rainwater.
• Use of certified materials.
• Dual-flow, heat-recovery ventilation systems.
• The fresh air is preheated by a ground-coupled heat exchanger.
• A set of photovoltaic panels is installed on the roof.
• A performance monitoring system has been implemented.

Together, these technical choices allow for energy consumption in line with French regulation RT 2005 and beyond the requirements for a low-energy house. L’Arbrisseau neighbourhood centre has primary energy consumption of 48.68 kWh/m2/year of primary energy, or primary energy consumption = standard consumption – 58.4%.

See also:

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Community Centre by Dierendonck Blancke	Community Centre by Adamo Faiden	Stephen Lawrence Centre by Adjaye Associates