The existing building of the National Office of Forests of Versailles (l'Office National des Forêts de Versailles) is situated in the urban landscape as a point of entry to the state-owned forest. Designed by Delalande Tabourin, a new simple pavilion serving as an extension to the existing building compellingly integrates into the urban forest context via its form and materiality while expressing the different activities of the ONF.
The pavilion provides new working spaces that meet the client's functional requirements while approaching the workplace as a singular spatial and landscape experience. The architects explain that the pavilion is designed to attract the curiosity of visitors, whether they are collaborators, passersby, or work with the ONF.
The building form evokes a wooden sculpture balancing on several pieces of wood. The roof, easily visible from the forest path, is the centrepiece of the project, rising from the landscape and drawing the gaze of those on the forest path. Beyond this, in the background, one can see the roofs of the city of Versailles.
Cut from solid pieces of wood, these blocks outline the organization between served and serving green spaces. The spaces are entirely composed of wood, highlighting their proximity to the forest landscape.
The wood for the pavilion roof and façade comes from the state-owned forests of Versailles. The wood was cut and machined at a local sawmill, making the thinness of the wooden slats possible thanks to the availability of machining and the amount of chestnut wood. The project construction program was especially considered to accommodate the seven months of drying required for the selected wood.
Inside, building furnishings and signs are designed and made to measure entirely in wood and are inspired by the typographic vocabulary of a woodcutters' tree markings.
The pavilion's recessed position in the natural landscape protects the office spaces during the hot summer months by retaining the coolness of the two walls built with millstones. The pavilion's high-performance bio-sourced insulation and natural cross-ventilation system through its wide façade ensures the project does not rely on mechanical climate control.
