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Architects: DE-SO
- Area: 8000 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Hervé Abbadie
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Manufacturers: Groupe Briand, Legendre Génie Civil
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Lead Architects: François Defrain, Edouard Bernard and Matthieu Labardin
Text description provided by the architects. The project was incorporated into the dynamics of job creation in France and also in the transfer of know-how of the world’s leading luxury brand. The concept of the building known as “agile” responded to 3 main criteria: the speed of the building process, the flexibility of its utility, and the capacity of evolution.
Designed and built in less than 12 months, the Beaulieu-sur-Layon factory was the result of an efficient and successful partnership among the key players: the client, the architect, and other relevant building companies.
Indeed, this project reflected a new way of creating production centers for future Louis Vuitton factories in France and across Europe. The visual connection from the inside of the building to the outside landscape is limitless and obvious.
The entrance to the factory and the workstations exposed us to the luminous landscape outside with the help of a glass facade of 100 meters long by 6 meters high. Oriented toward the North, this unique panorama brings in soft natural light and offers the variation of all colors of nature, following days, and the 4 seasons. The ecologic attention desired by Maison Louis Vuitton and the choice of setting up its factories «in the countryside» has been equally accompanied by an environmental commitment with regard to the building construction and the interior design.
The “BREEAM Very good” certification has defined an ambitious and demanding framework for site management, the preservation of the ecological environment as well as building an efficient green building. The performance of energy is optimized by 20% compared to the standard regulations since it is controlled thanks to the qualities of the enveloping structure and other technical equipment installation (heat recovery, zoning).
Inside the leathergoods manufacturing facilities, the visual and acoustic comfort is excellently defined. The project has limited the diversity of materials in use and their widen expressions. As a result, the dominance of wood has been always looked for throughout the whole design of the building.
DE-SO team desired to express via the wooden materials in use and the assembling style what they apprehended from the “Values” of Maison Louis Vuitton in connection with traveling, with the concept of luxury, and with the tradition of handcrafted know-how transferring.
