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Architects: V2S architectes
- Area: 256 m²
- Year: 2014
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Photographs:Julien Lanoo
Text description provided by the architects. The village of Banca is in the Basque Country, (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, 64) in the Aldudes valley.
This village has a strong identity and is crossed by the local road leading from Saint Étienne de Baïgorri to the Spanish border. Building a heritage centre in the village gives Banca an opportunity to attract visitors by highlighting the history of the local mines.
This cultural project also includes building a café as local entertainment, long awaited by the 333 inhabitants as the last bar in the village closed a few years ago. It will be built in the town's main square.
How can we come up with a modern project in a small Basque village with very strong architectural identity? By reinterpreting the landscape. Banca has been built into the mountainside using a series of terraces, cutting into the Pyrenean landscape. The stone retaining walls are an integral part of the village's image. The project springs from this process of adapting to the land: a stone pedestal containing the set design space on which the reception and the café stand. The café windows look out over the landscape, making it a beacon for locals and visitors.
The site's main constraint is the downslope of the land. The village of Banca clings to the mountainside and the plot drops down three metres along its length. Our choice therefore involves total use of the landscape and the shape of the embankment, along a large existing retaining wall. The other constraint is the architectural image of the village of Banca, marked by a deeply-rooted Basque regional identity.
This project needs to be able to combine local know-how and a modern style for everyone to accept it.
The aim was to make the most of the specification and these constraints. The 3 metre height difference between the highest and lowest point calls to mind an entire storey slotted into the land, with a low entrance (technical entrance for the museum) and a high entrance (public entrance for the café). This would fit the specification that includes a museum on the local mines (therefore not needing a lot of light) and a café that actually needs to be seen, facing outwards. The idea is that this stone pedestal should become an actual extension of the public space, sequenced by the protected high plot, the reception and the balcony viewpoint over the landscape.
Most of the materials inside are left rough. It is the fitting quality that highlights the finishes. The "technical" premises (toilets, lift, kitchen) are packed on to the embankment side and entirely fitted out in wood, to optimise free space on the landscape side for the café and the information area. It maintains the same spirit, offering an intimate connection with the material: the exhibition content was printed directly on to the wooden panels. Information hierarchies were created thanks to the texture of the material on which the information is printed (wood, Plexiglas, adhesive).
