Multipurpose Hall

Florence Vesval

• Architetti

This project involves the renovation of the existing club house on the site as well as its enlargement to serve as a multipurpose hall for both the city of Coudoux
and the tennis club.

photo_credit Florence Vesval — Florence Vesval

Located at the edge of a residential zone of single-family homes, the multipurpose hall is bordered on the north side by a future park and old umbrella pines,
and on the east and south sides by tennis courts.
The building is designed to open broadly thanks to a large covered area that provides shelter from bad weather and protection from the sun.

This is the first project of the industry of Alep pine, a softwood lumber being developed by forestry-oriented municipalities of FIBOIS PACA and the local town government. The entire project is built with Alep pine: the backs of the caissons are composed of wooden nailing strips for the integration of lighting fixtures and for the acoustics of the hall. Interior furnishings, counters and tablets are also made of this wood. The project stands upon a slab of concrete and solid stone from Vers Pont-du-Gard, designed to protect the wood from the ground.
Surrounding soil has been homogenized into gravel in order to unify and link the various levels of the site.

The use of Alep pine reveals the project’s identity, and integrates it into its environment. Thus, the project as a whole, existing structure plus its expansion, is truly at home on the site, owing to its placement, creation of free zones, its materiality, and its openings, and tying its different spaces together.