Salorge Town Community Building in Pornic, France by Atelier Arcau

Article source: Atelier Arcau

The town of Pornic’s elected representatives expressed their “deep-rooted” commitment to regional tradition, immediately excluding any other architectural form that did not match the traditional volumes and templates of the Pays de Retz, such as roofs with gable roofs, covered in tiles.
Because the Communauté de Communes (Town Community) Centre had to fit into a business park already denoted by previous building projects (hospitals, police station, office buildings), which had all been subjected to these regulations, we chose to make a different contextual offer in relation to the site and its history.

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

• Architects: Atelier Arcau
• Project: Salorge Town Community Building
• Location: Pornic, France
  
• Photography: LE RESTE Hervé – IRIS STUDIO
• Category: Civic and Community
• Architect: ARCAU, VANNES, France
• WAF Entry: 2012
• Award: World Architecture Festival 2012 – Shortlisted
• Client / Developer : Communautés de commnes de Pornic France

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

To this end, we took an interest in what the Pays de Retz tradition could reveal, thereby stimulating our imagination. We developed our project by reinterpreting the salt storehouses, known as the “salorges”, widespread in this area of the Atlantic coast, from the Guérande peninsula as far as Vendée. These are long, simply constructed buildings, clad with timber.

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

So we joined two simple volumes in the shape of these traditional buildings. Here the protective timber skin is stylish. It meets the requirements of a responsible environmental approach. A thick skin provides the necessary insulation of the building from the outside, and the concrete structure ensures thermal inertia. The façade’s structured design alternates solid and empty spaces.

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

This contributes to the control of solar exposure, while giving rhythm to and creating continuous light and shade animation following the solar cycle. It is a cladding which is reversed on a fifth “protective” façade, ensuring a calm and reassuring composition, in which we were able to mix tradition and modernity consistently.

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Image Courtesy © LE RESTE Hervé - IRIS STUDIO

Tags: France, Pornic

Categories: Building, Civic Center, Community Centre

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