“It is important for children to like the Maison de la Petite Enfance, for them to feel comfortable there, free yet safe. It has to be gentle and tender with them, participate in their education, help them find their marks and stimulate their imaginations” – The elected officials of Lieusaint
With the children’s well-being in mind this is how NOMADE Architectes designed and carried out the project.
The town of Lieusaint is a community located 35 kilometers to the southeast of Paris in the Seine et Marne département. Serviced by RER line D, it is part of the greater Sénart region.
After a competition for the project, NOMADE Architectes was commissioned to design and build this facility that it wanted to make a symbol of developmental for the region.
The project responded to Lieusaint’s desire to build a prominent facility for early childhood.
The prospect of building a small stand-alone new house on this very restricted garage plot seemed like an improbability until we started to explore the site in three dimensions. We concluded that if we turned the house upside down and arranged the bedrooms and bathrooms on a lower ground floor, with the main living rooms on the ground floor and upper mezzanine levels, then a workable and viable plan form started to emerge. Our brief was to build the largest house possible on this 60 m2 site, which was located at the end of a garden on Velonia Gardens and next to an electricity substation on Amerland Road, with very limited access for excavation. In essence we designed the house in section rather than in plan ie the plan form was generated by the section, and the section through the house allows sunlight to penetrate deep into the interior spaces. Although the house is small in scale, it is not small in stature – in a manner of speaking it is a house that punches above its weight! When you look at the house from the outside it looks remarkably small, but once inside it has the most extraordinary light and airy feel. The positioning of the staircase, central in the house, and being a design feature in its own right encourages the eye to travel up to the mezzanine floor level and down to the basement level, therefore allowing one to perceive the three dimensional quality of the house. On the ground floor, which comprises the entrance off Amerland Road and the kitchen, dining and living areas, one is aware of the space above and space below. The staircase is a relatively lightweight fabrication in steel and glass, with open treads in hard wood, and has a delicacy and a lightness of touch, which echoes the way the house as a whole has been conceived.
The neighborhood of Caselas, Lisbon, was built in 1949 and designed by architect Antonio Couto Martins.
With a regular and orthogonal organization this neighborhood is characterized by the adaptation of its urban fabric to some pre-existing elements, such as the Church, which served as a reference to its main axes.
The commission is a house for a couple with four grown children.
The plot is located in a countryside neighborhood with access to Route 27 and to the Lujan River, in the town of Tigre in the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires.
McCann Worldgroup is a leading global advertising agency. As part of its Vision 2021 a radically collaborative way of working is being implemented. MWG Madrid approached Studio Banana in order to support this transition, foster a novel workplace culture and design its new headquarters in the same spirit.
Fintech Fusion is an accelerator dedicated to financial technology start-ups and located in an area of Geneva undergoing a deep transformation, from light industry into tech. The premises used to host the labs of a world-class diamonds and jewellery brand.
Racagni Primary School stands on three floors: the total net area of the ground floor is 2.326 square meters divided between classrooms, auditorium, facilities, the gym and administration offices. The first floor has a total net area of 1.491 square meters with six classrooms, labs for art, computer, science and music. The second floor, 1.030 square meters of net area, includes ten classrooms and service areas.
The renovation project of the FTI foundation’s headquarters in the heart of Geneva’s industrial urban fabric was undertaken following two primary objectives:
On one hand, the need to activate a collaborative culture amongst the different departments, based on a transversal project dynamic, and on the other hand the need to propose a renewed and coherent client experience in line with the foundation’s values. The users were involved in a participatory co-design process from the start, helping to shape a common vision and to create an optimal user experience.
The new Sotheby’s Real Estate Headquarters at Carvoeiro, Algarve, is on an existent building characterized by both local and traditional construction technics as well as materials. In order to save and recuperate the building having in mind the new program, we have decided to conduct some internal demolitions as the building was not well preserved. Said demolitions, at a spatial configuration level, will allow to recover the building and make the necessary adjustments to the contemporary needs, mainly in terms of energy efficiency.
In the first energy-neutral district of Amsterdam, the Houthavens, we designed the 4th Gymnasium. An energy-neutral secondary school that accommodates about 800 students. The school functions as the entrance of the new district. The Houthavens had an industrial role for years and will transform into a vibrant district with several islands in the upcoming years. A great variety of buildings and residents will take their place here. The 4th Gymnasium serves as a herald for the further developments of this area.
email
Facebook
Twitter
RSS Feed
