Et in Arcadia ego
Landemont, France 2020
Extension of a recreation center
work done in the agency Atome Architecture Saumur
under the direction of Patrick Fiolleau, Architect DPLG
All documents are the intellectual property of Atome Saumur.
The extension of the Orée d'Anjour children's center of the city of Landemont is a project carried out during my Master internship in the agency Atome Architecture Saumur.
Supervised by Patrick Fiolleau, our team of three students worked on the project, from the Sketch phases to Advanced phases, producing plans and rendering images, while imagining and drawing the main components of its architecture.
This project is our first real achievement, with construction scheduled to begin in late 2021.
The existing children's center of Orée d'Anjou is a complex building, the product of successive extensions that have fragmented the unicity of the initial volume. The multiplicity of programs (day care center, school restaurant) sheltered by the building has generated a main facade that is difficult to read and identify, where main entrances and service exits are mixed.
On the occasion of the proposed new extension, which offers an additional 330m2 for after-school care spaces, the project offers a total requalification of the west façade of the entire building. In order to harmonize the main elevation, the new extension turns over on itself, creating a protected patio in the center of the children's center without trespassing on the large green courtyard left free on the north side of the plot. The shape thus created remains in continuity with the existing roof and its massing, and its patio allows light and sunshine to enter the heart of the building. Present in covered galleries, pergolas, entrance canopies and courtyards, the structure in concrete arcades " terracotta-like " covers the elevations in the same language.
Taking up a strong historical influence in the area, a wall of schist stones adorns the entire west facade, giving unity to this interface. This new wall also provides a structured enclosure for the outdoor play area of the daycare center to the south and an enclosed courtyard to distance the technical facilities of the restaurant overlooking the parking lot.
A covered pedestrian walkway is connected to this wall, which, combined with a green knot, distances pedestrian and automobile traffic, thus making it safer for children to circulate. This gallery that surrounds the entire building is a contemporary reinterpretation of the archetypal curved brick lintels found throughout the area. Here, the use of prefabricated modules in coloured concrete will allow the construction to be less disruptive because the center must remain functional throughout the construction work.
Present in exterior circulation or in porous facade with the interior, this new architectural language is the real link of the project which gives the children's center its own identity.
