#landscape

COMUNITY, TRANSPARENCY, DYNAMISM

Ateliers O-S architectes : http://o-s.fr/en/works/

In 2010, the town of Saint Germain lA?s Arpajon wants to acquire new equipment comprising a media library and a school of music and dance. This cultural center will replace the current school of music & dance and the current public library which are located in a small and malfunctioning existing building. The project was designed according to a comprehensive though about location, shape, cost of operation and materials, aiming to promote exchange, conviviality and allow public meeting.

The project is playing with the natural slope of the site (almost 3 different levels) by moving towards, like a straight line drawn in the landscape. Set back from the cemetery by a landscaped strip and from the school by the new road, the public building is holding onto the site via two compelling levels of the project: a mineral square on the top (Leuville Road), a vegetal square on the lower level (at the heart of the plot). Both squares are connected through the building by a public passage. The program is organized as a continuous loop, joining the top square to the bottom square.The structural programmatic entities of the cultural center are the library, the school of music & dance and a centralized lobby (including animation spaces, auditorium, expectations and exhibition spaces) from where the whole building and the administration are vertically distributed. The public entrance of the cultural center opens between the two branches of the equipment as a welcoming hand to guide you through the building.The media library and the lobby are located at higher level. This is the heart of the project, this is where visitors find information.The library is organized as a L-plan on a large open reading spaces structured by colored furniture. The library is widely opened towards the Orge Valley.On the lower level, the music & dance school, administrative offices, and lecture studios are located on the north side, while the two main rooms offers generous views to enjoy the landscape of the valley. By a measured set of transparency, the new public building is a showcase about the city and the landscape allowing us firstly to see from outside its cultural activities and mostly to frame the landscape of the valley.

The project is the expression of the sensitivity of a situation, a site, a context. Ateliers O-S architectes search for a responsive architecture able to provide to everyone a new experience, an emotion.

Studio: Ateliers O-S architectes

Project name: Cultural Center, Media Library, Music & Dance School

Competition : January 2011

Delivery Year: February 2015

Location: Saint Germain lA?s Arpajon, France

Client : City of Saint-Germain-LA?s-Arpajon

Area : 2173 mA?