Architects: Archi5 Location: Pontault Combault, France Project Year: 2008 Photographs: Thomas Jorion
Project Area: 3,140 sqm Collaborators: B. Huidobro. Client: City of Pontault Combault Budget: 3.804.594€ without IVA
This project is a cultural center that includes different programs. Located in Pontault Combault, a medium-sized city, about 30 km from the center of the Paris region. The cultural center includes: a theater / auditorium, a media library, music studios and showrooms.
It is a place full of houses over uneven ground. On this complicated ground, our project aims to assert its public identity with a strong image, but respecting the scale of the surrounding buildings and houses, most of which have one or two levels.
Every aspect of the program has different requirements in terms of volume. Yet the building must be consistent and unique. The shape of the project is the result of the organization of these different volumes linked to the scale of the adjacent buildings. The echo with the windings of the road from the church allows the emergence of a generous public space.
The transparent facades, are like an extension of the public space inside the cultural center. At night, the lights that emerge from these openings give the cultural center an elegant identity.
The volume of the exhibition hall extends over the axis of the volume of the theater. Taking advantage of the slope, suspended, dominating the public space without exceeding the ceiling of the adjacent buildings.
The local services and technical entries are located at the back of the building, hidden from view of visitors, but well organized for the delivery of technical products. The spaces inside the building are arranged and painted in white. The furniture is colorful and liven up this harmonious and bright interior. In the exhibition spaces the walls and floors allow multiple uses. The theater / auditorium is much darker with a uniform blue color.
