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Architects: eliet&lehmann architectes
- Area: 50000 m²
- Year: 2017
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Photographs:Sergio Grazia, Pierre-Yves Brunaud
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Manufacturers: Jansen, Girebat, Lorillard, MPO
Text description provided by the architects. The renovation of the entire forum, 797 social housing units built in the mid 70's by architects Daniel Babani and Pierre Roux-Dorlut, builds on the strength of the original building. The program advocated the use of exterior insulation. Our first conviction was that the building draws its strength and character from its architectonic concrete facades. A generalized packaging was thus excluded.
At the time of its construction, the building was on the fringes of the city, isolated on its slab facing the industrial zone of the factories Renault. The industrial site closed in 1992 was replaced by the trapeze district with remarkable architectures. The buildings of the forum renovated without being distorted, now find a place in the city, among the great contemporary buildings.
The interventions, which were intended to be in line with the original architecture, are nevertheless important: The clean colors of the exterior joinery and the rolling shutters, all replaced, contrast with the original concrete simply cleaned. This tiered building on a slab creates its own mineral landscape. To soften it, a forest of 250 trees is planted on previously unused terraces.
The ground floor is completely restructured. The halls are enlarged and open to natural light. Halls and bike storage are gathered in the same crossing space. The whole is treated as a noble place. A floor made of continuous Comblanchian stone covers the floor.
The feet of the huge blind pinions are pierced to create collective facilities or businesses. The west pinion of building H1, at the outlet of the footbridge that leads to the park of the trapezium quarter sees the installation of a restaurant.
On the eastern pinion of the H2 building, on the site of a future public staircase, a large bow-window serves as an entrance to a group of lodges and meeting rooms. The façade interventions, which are sometimes important, take up the constructive principle of assembling large prefabricated concrete elements and blend into the original building.
