ArchShowcase 
Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Petit Bain in Paris, France by ENCORE HEUREUX architectsFebruary 12th, 2012 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: ENCORE HEUREUX architects Since 1995, the Guinguette Pirate has developed an artistic and cultural project on the water, referred to as «intermediate» boats, heritage boats rehabilitated into concert halls (the Guinguette Pirate and Batofar) and through interdisciplinary and outdoor events : Musée imagianire, Café de la marine, Piratages and Sous la Plage. It is for the 2004 festival Sous la Plage, that ENCORE HEUREUX had carte blanche and produced a temporary installation with hundreds of hanging zebras Sous les Zèbres.  Exterior View
In 2006, the Guinguette Pirate asks ENCORE HEUREUX to produce schematics for the conversion of a boat, the Emile Allard, into a cultural venue. However, ultimately the construction of a completely new barge that was chosen for the Petit-Bain project. Despite being determined by the constraints of navigation, Petit- Bain is not a boat, but a building floating on the Seine. Built in a shipyard near to Paris, its measures 40 m in length and 10.5 m wide in order to pass through locks and under bridges and draws 5 meters.
 Exterior View Permanently moored at le port de la gare, the building is composed of three levels with the concert hall in the hull, creating a double height space in front of the stage that is unexpected from the dock. Suspended in the air, above the public, a large buoy coated with mirror facets inundates the room with thousands of light flashes. To contrast with the whole hull and the structure made of steel, the superstructure is covered with wood: pine plywood in the restaurant on the inside and vertical slatted larch cladding outside. On the terrace, an unusual garden to be enjoyed by the public allows views of the Seine. Recovered from the demolition of a social housing complex and given by the town of Romainville, 33 white tubs are filled with aquatic plants, as a counterpoint that illustrates the name of this new floating cultural equipment.
 Interior View In shades that range from bright yellow to pale green, the hull, decks and access underline this island in the city and livens the greyness of the dock. In his photographic work on France, Raymond Depardon stated: The cool colors are supposed to be modern, in contrast to yellow for example. It’s hard yellow. And it’s beautiful too. In 2006, the association Guinguette Pirate leaves La Jonque Chinoise (now Dame de Canton) and begins to think about a project that fits their desires, commitments, vision, that of a floating and protean barge: Petit Bain. The desire to see emerge in Paris, an alternate venue that is independent, which links artistic, economic and social issues has been realized thanks to the the Autonomous Port of Paris’ will to create a strong cultural centre in the 13th district , with support from the City of Paris and the Ile-de-France region as well as that of many partners and artists. Committed to fostering innovative artistic approaches, Petit Bain offers events year-round that seek to expose the diversity of global cultural productions: music, dance, graphic design, illustration, food, vegetables …
 Interior View PETIT BAIN : I HATE WORLD MUSIC (D. Byrne) Petit Bain has positioned itself in the field of experimentation around popular music and intends to represent what Edouard Glissant calls the creolization of the world. This revolution affects creative contemporary music, all over the world, particularly in urban and cosmopolitan settings. The dichotomy between western music (rock, pop, electro, folk …) and «world music» is fading. Trends merge to produce crossbred projects. From Vietnamese rock to Turkish tango, to African hip-hop, electro cumbia Argentina, or Parisian psyche folk, Petit Bain seeks to support these musical groups that exist on the borders of genres and sometimes of disciplines. The teams of the Guinguette Pirate and the association Le Bouquin Affamé share common values and desires to see the birth of a cultural center in Paris that can link the social, cultural and economic, without the rule of one over the other.
 Exterior View PETIT BAIN : ENTERPRISE FOR INTEGRATION Petit Bain is a company which beyond the economic and artistic project develops a social project. Believing that work is an essential vehicle for integration, and that a company is a space for training, the team of Petit Bain wants to participate in the re-socialization of people excluded from the world of work and thereby in a position of social exclusion. This commitment is reflected in the hiring of persons eligible for the integration contract (Contrat d’Insertion is a state-sponsored retraining and integration program).
 Interior View PETIT BAIN : COOPERATIVE Choosing this form is, for Petit Bain, the opportunity to join the ethical values of participation, solidarity, community service or transparency and legitimacy of power. Indeed, the cooperative structure chosen by Petit Bain enables the association of multiple stakeholders around the same project: employees, volunteers, users, public authorities, companies, associations, individuals …
 Interior View ENCORE HEUREUX architects ENCORE HEUREUX has been founded in 2001 by Julien Choppin and Nicola Delon, graduated in 2002 from the Ecole d’architecture de Paris la Villette for a cultural project using the rail network. We start our activity realizing ephemeral installations, with tight budgets and numerous restraints. In parallel we developed our graphic work (summary images, websites, graphic design) aimed at architects. We participate in architectural competitions and worked on studies in association with Patrick Bouchain, Phillippe Madec, Jean-luc Vilmouth, Mutabilis and G-Studio. In 2006, ENCORE HEUREUX won the «Nouveaux Albums de la Jeune Architecture» awarded by the Ministry of Culture.  Petit Bain In 2011 we deliver our two first buildings commissioned : Petit Bain, a floating building in Paris and DomoLab, an innovation center at Aubervilliers. Two other projects are under construction : MUS, the urban and social history museum of Suresnes and CINE 32, a cinematographic complex of 5 auditoriums in Paris. In parallel, we are working on a water kiosk in Ulaan Baator (Mongolia) for the G.N.O. Action Contre la Faim and in collaboration with the Elioth engineers (IOSIS), we develope an electric pylon/wind turbine project. Our work is centered around creating comfort, inventing new uses and inspiring wonder. Seizing opportunities, making excuses and observing situations are equally strategies to conceptualize projects in architecture, art and design. For us, ENCORE HEUREUX rhymes with demand and lucidity, optimism and commitment.
 Exterior View  Interior View  Exterior View  Petit Bain  Exterior View  Exterior View
Contact ENCORE HEUREUX architects
Categories: Cruise Port, Cultural Center |
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
email
Facebook
Twitter
RSS Feed
