Page 103 - AIT0524_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design Dominique Coulon & Associés
Grundriss Erdgeschoss • Ground floor plan
Grundriss Obergeschoss • Upper floor plan
Bauherr • Client Gemeinde Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
Standort • Location FR-Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
Nutzfläche • Floor space 4819 m 2
Fotos • Photos Eugeni Pons
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More info on page 126
MEDIA CENTRE
IN SAINT-DIÉ-DES-VOSGES
What was once a disused administrative centre dating
from the reconstruction period now shines in a modern
guise. With the new La Boussole media centre – which
translates as “the compass” – the small French town of
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges is moving towards freedom. A new
cultural centre is being built right next to the Tour de la
Liberté by the planners around Dominique Coulon.
B y restructuring the old building complex over the course of near-
ly five years into a centre for education and leisure, Strasbourg
architects Dominique Coulon & Associés are once again more than
successfully demonstrating their skills in designing a media library
which also includes a tourist office and a café-restaurant. This place of
meeting, exchange and sharing results from the renovation of a waste-
land. However, unlike in Porto-Vecchio or Thionville (see AIT 9.2018),
the expressionist design here is limited to the interior of the building.
The façade is still respectfully reminiscent of the historical building
fabric: the rhythm of stone, columns and openings remains the same
– but appears interpreted in a modern way with a reduced choice
of materials and colours. Only the extended portal on the west side
allows a first glimpse into the world of colourful media. The interior
design of the building is as varied as the books, historical documents,
CDs, DVDs and games. Visitors are welcomed at a wooden counter,
whose cubic, wooden character extends horizontally and vertically
into the stairwell. The view is opened up to the heart of the media
library – what was once the inner courtyard of the administration buil-
ding now forms the new centre of the media library. On an area of 300
square metres, with seven-metre-high ceilings, all rooms of different
qualities are visually connected with each other. The open reading
room is crowned by a concrete coffered ceiling that opens upwards.
Red- and yellow-tinted glass panels form the end of the concrete struc-
ture and complete the design concept with their coloured cast sha-
dows. The reading corner for children contrasts with the alarm-signal-
red reading staircase, the seating snake that organizes the space and
the translucent room closure. This is the perfect place to live carefree
in the blue: Whether carpet, furniture or the terraced play mats – eve-
rything shines in all shades of blue. Together or alone, loud or quiet,
in the exhibition room or in the centre for video games: La Boussole
gives the 20,000 inhabitants of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges a third place right
in the centre of their small French town.
AIT 5.2024 • 103