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. Groupe Scolaire Lucie Aubrac in Allée de Bourgogne, Nanterre by Dietmar Feichtinger ArchitectesJune 9th, 2012 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes The school is distinguished by its spatial organization and design of the facades of their surroundings. The free form differentiates the building from its environment of rigid social housing characterizing the area ‘Province de France’ in Nanterre. There is a relationship point of view (a view relation) with the Paris business district La Défense. The highly frequented, Route Nationale 314 runs west to the school building. The site was excavated and earth mound planted.
The school complex is organized around two courtyards that offer children different outdoor areas. The yard of the kindergarten was designed as a square, the courtyard of the elementary school as a trapeze. In the south, the campus has been completed by the gym. To the east is the ‘Centre de Loisirs’, a day home for in France generally established full-day school. The day home also is open to the residents of the neighborhood Province de France, and acts with its library and documentation center as ‘house of the neighborhood’. The main entrance of the school is located in the north under the overhanging volume of the library. Visible from the rue de Savoye, it offers a generous covered forecourt for parents and children. Under this covered forecourt there are also bike racks. The location of the lodge allows the control of visitors and students. The young children have a direct access from the covered outdoor area to the hall of the kindergarten. The building The entire school building is surrounded by a corridor. This bright corridor with windows in different sizes, gives direct access to the classrooms and facilities. The corridor also provides an effective noise control for the exclusively to the courtyard orientated classrooms. All classrooms are extremely quiet and sunny thanks to their orientation. The kindergarten The kindergarten with its five classes is arranged on two floors and accessed via the entrance hall. The Elementary school The school has 9 classes overall. 2 classrooms are situated on the ground floor, seven classrooms on the first floor. 3 classes are provided with a spacious terrace. The canteen with attached self-service is used by the kindergarten and the elementary school and located between the two courts. Interior Throughout the school linoleum floors were laid. The classrooms vary in color from the common areas. Transitions The corridors in front of the classrooms were equipped with a continuous wooden bench seat with integrated shoe rack as well as coat hooks. Gym The gym closes at the school complex in the south. Transparent polycarbonate panels ensure a covered access to the gym from the school and the kindergarten. Facade The facades are made of untreated pine slats. Through their cut and individually mounted alternated with glass surfaces, they produce the vibration of the facade. Home of the caretaker The 3 bedroom apartment of the caretaker is located on the 3rd floor and allows from the terrace the overlooking of the school grounds and a view to the Grande Arche at La Défense. Parking 12 parking, available for the teachers and with a direct access to the building are situated at -1. Dietmar Feichtinger The Simone de Beauvoir footbridge was designed by Dietmar Feichtinger.We talk with an architect who is as attentive to the natural as he is to the urban environment. He designed the Simone de Beauvoir footbridge, won the European competition for the Mont Saint Michel pedestrian causeway bridge and was responsible for the footbridges at La Défense and over the Rhine, but Dietmar Feichtinger does not consider himself a bridge specialist. “I don’t like the term specialist. Our work covers a hospital, universities, office buildings, toll plazas and cinemas as well as bridges.” He does not prefer horizontal to vertical lines and adds that he is careful never to repeat himself. “I don’t to get into the habit of designing only office buildings, only bridges or anything else. Habit kills creativity.” Every location calls for its own project. Treating every projectas a new one fitting into a specific location is a good way of avoiding routine. This involves seeking a new solution every time, endeavoring to be highly modern, highly contemporary and above all avoiding stylistic precepts. Every location, every natural landscape, every urban setting requires its own response. This can mean attracting attention, like the Simone de Beauvoir Footbridge, or blending into the landscape like he causeway bridge at the Mont Saint Michel Bay. The design of his bridges thus varies considerably. But relationships and analogies can be found with other–at firsglance quite different–structures. The causeway bridge, for example, bears a resemblance to the Klagenfurth hospital, of which a scalemodel takes up half the office where we are talking with Dietmar Feichtinger. “In both projects, the direct connection tonature was important to us.” All-revealing architecture Everywhere – if it’s in Paris or the Mont Saint Michel Bay – Dietmar Feichtinger focuses primarily on fitting his projects into their setting. This, he strongly believes, is the fundamental of architecture, a guiding principle rather than an obstacle, and he pays close attention to the structure of his work.“The bones of the building, that is what every architect should be interested in.” His bridges are, in that sense, a stylistic exercise: “This is all-revealing architecture, you can conceal nothing. It is the basic. principles that make the project.” Brief biography Dietmar Feichtinger a native of Austria, studied architecture at the Technical University of Graz. He moved to Paris in 1989 and established Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes in 1993. With a thirty of employees between Paris and Vienna the team operates mainly in Europe. DFA has built a strong reputation for its inventive structures and its investigative approach to design. Its work links both architecture and engineering whilst exploring the dynamic between these two disciplines. In a constant strive DFA is looking for integration environmental and sustainable development, in a elegant and sensitive architecture, respectful of nature and humans. Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes is internationally honored with architecture awards and publications for excellence in design and their built projects. www.feichtingerarchitectes.com/ Contact Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes
Tags: Allée de Bourgogne, Nanterre Category: School |