The Martinet site is a former coal mine consisting of two slag heaps and several built volumes. It was closed at the end of its operation in 1976 and then left abandoned. In the 2000s, committed residents fought for the site to be reconsidered, cleaned up, secured, and gradually reinvested. Nestled in the heart of this green setting, an old locomotive shed covering 400 m² was awaiting a new purpose. In 2016, the City accepted an appealing and coherent proposal from two partners eager to develop a sustainable food production site in Charleroi. The former locomotive depot was to become a workshop for the artisanal production of bread, pastries, and pasta called Les Épis Sauvages.
RESERVOIR A maximized the qualities of the existing building, highlighting the volumetry and the impressive structure of the small building made of raw concrete and masonry. However, fitting the program into this large empty volume was extremely complex. To preserve the existing volume, the architects decided to lower the floor by 40 cm compared to the finished level to accommodate, among other things, the production area, which had to comply with bakery laboratory food safety standards. This solution allowed for strict hygiene control while maintaining an open view of the shed space.
Without any architectural gesture that could weaken the spirit of the existing building, the construction of an annex increases the total usable area of the project. Attached to the existing volume on the east façade and housing service spaces, the annex's form follows the introverted function of the technical rooms it contains. But it is also in this annex that the baking room is located, featuring a gigantic wood-fired oven capable of baking in one batch what a conventional bakery would produce in an entire day.
