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Architects: Atelier du Rouget Simon Teyssou & associés
- Area: 3712 m²
- Year: 2014
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Photographs:Christophe Camus , Benoit Alazard
Text description provided by the architects. The eco-district of Le Vialenc marks the change in the urban-planning policy of the town of Aurillac. The new approach implies viewing the town and housing of tomorrow differently and aiming to increase responsibility and sustainability. The proposed building is a symbol in itself of the town’s renewal in an eco-responsible neighbourhood. Its position is strategic, its image emblematic. Its shape is simple and contemporary: two intertwined volumes referring to complementary forces,- verticality and horizontality.
Viewed from the boulevard, the totem is an element in black zinc, dense, monolithic, partially cored to insert loggias. The linear volume includes exterior passageways and affirms a contrary horizontality.
The building has an urban façade, directly linked to the boulevard, showing a ground-floor occupied by businesses and the passageways giving access to the floors above, and a quieter façade, turned toward the heart of the eco-district: facing south/southwest, it is made of loggias extending the flats and offices like hanging gardens. Protected from the noise, it gives the occupants a view on the future interior garden of the district. The materials were carefully chosen for their characteristics and qualities.
Concrete braces the construction, insulates the flats from the noisy boulevard, provides thermal inertia for the whole building and keeps the wood structure off the ground. Zinc protects the building from bad weather. The wide overhanging roof shields the exterior passageways, balconies and façade. These two sustainable and easy-to-maintain materials are the only ones in contact with the ground. A light galvanized-steel structure supports the exterior horizontal passageways and loggias.