GYMNASIUM RÉGIS RACINE BY ATELIER D’ARCHITECTURE ALEXANDRE DREYSSÉ

Located on a plot that is enclosed with an urban fabric of residential houses, the building hosts a sports hall of 22 by 44 meters, a dance studio, office spaces for associations, as well as lockers for sports teams and referees.

The sports hall is a lofty wooden nave, with a curved roof, which keeps the walls from being too high, as they adjoin the gardens of the surrounding houses. The project was built in a complex and very enclosed residential area, 75% of the project boundary is situated in the limit of the site, therefore no openings on the facade are permitted, the gymnasium have been designed including this following constraints:

–   Integrating a dense program into a very limited space; – Limit the height in order to ease the integration and perception of the building into the residential surrounding, especially houses whose gardens overlook the building;

–  Keep the building process ongoing without intervening on the surrounding areas;

–   Insure a maximum of natural illumination despite a 75% opaque facade;

–   Create a quality inward looking spaces.

The building is 90 meters long and is divided into two parts : – A large wooden nave, the sports hall, its curved roof is used to limit the height of the facades in relation with the surrounding houses . 

This part of the building is illuminated by a large glazing poly carbonate system on roof. – a second one level part beside includes: the dressing rooms, services and the dance hall.

It was designed for pupils of schools and colleges of the city of Drancy area, local associations and sports clubs. The sport hall was optimized for basketball regional competitions.

Wood, as the preferred material, was used in three different ways in order to create a specific ambiance to each space: – Wooden structure of the sports hall: in continuous crossed arcs-columns made of laminated timbers ; the rhythm created structures the illuminated parts of the roof. – Wooden structure of the hall: arches and exposed battens. – Wooden structure of the dance hall panels forming rectangular boxes.

Environmental optimization: – Use of sustainable and natural materials; – Increasing natural lighting; – Dual flow ventilation system; – High performance gas condensing boiler; – Low temperature radiators; – infrared lighting systems; – System of rainwater collection for watering green spaces.

 

Location: Drancy, France 
Architects: Atelier d’Architecture Alexandre Dreyssé 
Architectural Assistant: Sébastien Muller 
Engineers: Betom Ingénierie 
Structural Wood Engineers: Tec Bois 
Environmental Engineers: Cap Terre 
Area: 1,581 sqm 
Year: 2011 
Client: Ville de Drancy 
Photographs: Clément Guillaume

MULTIPURPOSE BUILDING BY GSMM ARCHITECTS

The purpose of this building is to provide the small town in with its located with a visual landmark. The features of its personality softly emerge without direct imposition on the environment.

Its multifaceted roof structure, which looks like pleated paper, is immediately recognizable and represents a clear statement of public and representative architecture.

The sunken floor, lower than the street level, is designed to respect the proportions of the surrounding space and accommodate the human scale. Subsequently, the building appears to be exceptional but yet compatible with humans.

The roof projects itself into the space to form a large covered public area. Within this area, another three, smaller structures: a reading room, the public access to the sunken floor and a kitchen used for public outdoor events.

Three sides of the multipurpose hall are floor-to-ceiling glass walls. The shelter seems to hover above the ground and connects the interior of the hall and the outdoor space.

By night this hovering effect is emphasized by the artificial light, which seems to become the immaterial support on which the roof rests. There are no other significant buildings in the immediate surroundings and therefore the choice of the materials was autopoietic.

The only constraint in this respect was the limited available budget. The building is mainly made with prefabricated components and using simple and inexpensive technology. 

The smaller structures and the back wall of the hall are in raw reinforced concrete. The interior of the hall is covered in composite wooden and cement panels up to the entry door level. The rest is in glass panes assembled on a steel frame up to the roof.

 

Location: Dueville, Italy 
Architect: GSMM Giorgio Santagostino . Monica Margarido 
Engineering Design: Alessandro Gasparini - Micheletti Ingegneria Srl 
Landscape: Giorgio Santagostino . Monica Margarido 
Schedule: Competition 2006. Project 2007 - 2008 . Realization 2011 
Total Area: 1,390 sqm 
Cost: 1,315,000 Euro 
Client: Comune Di Dueville 
Photographs: Michele Gusmeri

GYMNASIUM AND TOWN HALL ESPLANADE BY LAN ARCHITECTURE

In the Île-de-France region, the new gymnasium at Chelles is an exceptional example of a public building with a strong architectural identity. The town council’s aim was that this local amenity should play a key role in the harmonious redefinition of the urban landscape.

Located in the town centre, the project enhances the surrounding architectural heritage, composed of the Collège Weczerka, the Centre d’Art Contemporain “Les Églises” and the Town Hall. Respecting each edifice’s identity and acting as a link between them, it helps re-establish an aesthetic equilibrium. The reorganised esplanade was conceived as its natural extension and redefines its use as a pedestrian circulation area.

The gymnasium is an innovative example of the increasingly adoption of HEQ norms in the construction or refurbishment of public buildings. The project is the culmination of the town council’s carefully thought-out plan to transform the site into an open public space. The double-skin façade, with glass on the outside and copper-covered wood panels on the inside, creates a strong architectural identity.

The paving of the esplanade, a combination of bush-hammered concrete and large plaques of Core-ten finish concrete, echoes the walls of the gymnasium. This so-called “contextual” architecture takes into account the dense and varied environment and dynamises the setting. The glass facade amplifies perception of the surrounding space by reflecting the buildings around the square, not merely by mirroring them but by diffracting their image and creating a specific optical effect. 60% of the gymnasium’s total surface is covered with glass and copper.

The interplay of light and shade conceals the building’s framework and gives it its mineral appearance, elegance and lightness. The technical system used for the envelope is simple: a steel structure, glass façades with the lower walls in insulated concrete with copper cladding inside. This double skin ensures optimum acoustic insulation. The copper-covered wood panelling absorbs noise and reduces resonance in the large gymnasium space within.

The new esplanade was conceived as both a meeting place and a transit space, and develops the idea already sketched in by the architect Marc Barani for the Contemporary Art Centre. The subtle chequerboard arrangement of large bush-hammered and Cor-ten finish concrete slabs gives the square another dimension and highlights the entrances to the Town Hall and college.

As a natural extension of the gymnasium, the esplanade reinforces the overall impression of harmony. One of this project’s keynotes is its energy-efficient conception. Built to Very High energy Performance (VHEP) standards, the building provides a high level of user comfort. Its insulated concrete walls help cooling in summer and limit heat loss in winter. Each room also has a nocturnal double-flux ventilation system that recovers energy from the air extracted.

The façades are glazed with 2.28 m2, 44.2 “securit” panes on the outside and 8mm tempered glass on the inside, with a 14 mm anti-heat Argon gas infill. The building is connected to the town’s geothermal heating system, with a programme that heats spaces before use. The heat circulation generates the hot water and heating of the gymnasium, its annexe, changing rooms and circulation spaces.

The gymnasium is equipped with 32 photovoltaic panels with a total power of 7360 Watts, generating 6600 VA to be sold back to the national grid. The rainwater recovery system, functioning with the green roof, supplies the gymnasium’s toilets and washing facilities and provides water for its surrounding planted areas.

The infrastructure is lit naturally by large windows in the curtain wall and roof. At night, the building’s exterior is lit by LED projectors set into the ground. The entrances are indicated by candelabra. Inside, presence detectors optimise electricity management everywhere except the gymnasium space itself.

 

Location: Chelles, France

Architect: LAN Architecture

Project manager: Chelles Town Council

Area: 2200 m2

Budget: 3.85M € excl. VAT

Year: 2012

PALAIS DES SPORTS BY DOMINIQUE PERRAULT

Winner of the international architecture competition launched in 2006 for the achievement of a new Sports Palace in Rouen, Dominique Perrault inaugurates the new sports infrastructure.

 

The inhabitants and sportsmen, professional and non-professional, had the chance to discover the Kindarena that will welcome in addition to the national and international events in many sports disciplines all kind of different events.

The Sports Palace, located in an evolving site, must intervene strategicallyin the future urban context of Seine west program.

The entrance step system creates a new topography of the site that emphasizes public access and creates a new landmark in the city. Behind the rectangular geometry of the Sports Palace’s roof, we discover a trapezoidal shape from the sky.

 

 

The broad stairway invites to take over the Sports Palace. The roof repeats the language of the building’s base.

 

 

The metallic shades of the framework’s contrast with the step positions giving the building an immaterial feeling, and surprising the spectator with its unexpected reflections.

 

 

The functions are very clearly distinguished. Sports areas are situated in the central part of the building, the reception space is in the south wing of the building along the Lillebonne Street and the administrative and services areas in the north wing.

 

 

There are two sports halls with flexible seating capacity for up to 6.000, main sports hall for Basket ball and Boxing configuration, and 864 people respectively.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location: Rouen, France

Architect: Dominique Perrault Architecture

Engineering: Perrault Projets (architectural engineering), Khephren

Structure: Alto Ingénierie (fluids), RPO (economist), Jean-Paul Lamoureux (acoustic and lighting)

Area: 31 500 m²

Built area: 17 000 m²

Design: 2006

Completion: 2012

Client: La Crea, France

FONTYS SPORTS COLLEGE BY MECANOO ARCHITECTEN

Sports complex of 16,500 m2 with 5 sports halls of which several meet the NOC * NSF requirements, 1 with 400 seats, a 15 meter high climbing wall, a restaurant, a library and educational facilities as a multi media centre and a sports lab, and a parking garage with 200 parking spaces

Sport encourages friendship and solidarity and serves as an inspiration. Sport is healthy, relaxing, and above all, fun. This is evident in the sports college that Mecanoo architecten was commissioned to build by the council of Eindhoven and Fontys University of Applied Sciences on the Genneper Parken ‘sports estate’ in Eindhoven. The 16,500 m² sports complex opened on Thursday 25 October 2012. The event was celebrated by many renowned Dutch sporting personalities, including recent Olympic medal winners Marleen Veldhuis, Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Marianne Vos.

The state of the art complex accommodates educational facilities for 2,000 students, five sports halls, a climbing wall, a restaurant and an underground car park with 200 parking places. Walking or jogging through the Genneper Parken you’ll immediately notice the new sports college. Sporting figures are incorporated in the dark brick walls – a swimmer, a footballer, a hockey player.

Behind a completely glass facade of the ground floor you can see students and athletes actively engaged in sport against a background of brightly coloured walls with graphics of sporting icons. The crowning glory of the building is the fifteen-metre high climbing wall with an enormous window behind which you can see the climbers making their way up. As the project architect Ellen van der Wal from Mecanoo says: “This building breathes sport from every pore.”

The building is a crucial link in the development of Genneper Parken, the sports and recreational area, confirming Eindhoven as a Sports City. Several sports facilities have already been established in this southern part of the city, including the Pieter van den Hoogenband swimming stadium and the Centre for Top Sport and Education. With its sculptural appearance and lively facades, the Sports College is the new meeting place on the campus.

Van der Wal explains: “We wanted to create a social building. Everyone is familiar with the stereotypical image of the sports hall as a dull closed box, an association we wanted to avoid.” That’s why four of the five sports halls are up on the first floor, while the fifth hall is located at street level in the centre of the building. “This means that we could make the façade of the ground floor completely transparent, creating a very dynamic appearance for the park, and contributing to social safety in the evening.”

The strict demands which the Netherlands Olympic Committee imposes on sports accommodation were an extra complication for the design. For example, no daylight can enter the halls because of reflection. Nevertheless, the new building has a very light and spacious appearance. Van der Wal explains: “When you go in you look straight through the sports hall into the canteen, which offers views to the FC Eindhoven playing field. This is what we did throughout the building – with open areas, glass and viewing points. You can see sport everywhere.”

As the building is intended both for education and for top sports and amateur sports, the architect was also confronted with a logistical challenge. In the evenings and at weekends when sports clubs make use of the building, it had to be possible to screen off the educational function. This was challenging, but the many different spaces were successfully forged to create a harmonious whole. The sports college presents itself as a powerful entity with a single theme: sport is fun.

Location: Eindhoven, Holland

Architect: MecanooArchitecten

Year: 2012

Client: Gemeente Eindhoven, Fontys Hogescholen