Limonest is a municipality located north of Lyon on the western slope of the Monts d'Or. The project is set up on the site of the former community hall in the city center, on a constrained plot with a steep slope. It is situated in a valley at the foot of Mont Thoux. The program includes an underground parking garage with 60 spaces, a daycare center with 70 cribs on the ground floor, and multipurpose community rooms on the upper floor. The Family House complements the existing public facilities, notably the school and the nearby sports complex.
The structure is telluric, consisting of three layers embedded in the terraced ground. The project organizes pathways and flows between the different levels of the city center in a precise relationship to the topography and landscape. The altitude of the green roof does not exceed that of the neighboring church's forecourt. Thus, from above, the building allows an unobstructed view of the surrounding reliefs, while from below, it presents large horizontal plateaus within the height of the church's retaining wall. The south facade is extensively glazed over the courtyard and landscape. It is protected by wide overhangs topped with concrete bands that serve as guardrails and parapets.
The entrance is located on the west gable, facing an existing kindergarten. It is marked by a concave glazed recess and by a protrusion that houses an elevator. This outgrowth creates a counter-curve beyond the roof and leads to a metallic footbridge at the level of the church. This pathway is a proposal from the architects during the studies to facilitate the connection between the parking infrastructure and the city center. It reinforces the public nature of the building which can be traversed in its entirety.
The layout of the nursery, with a thickness of 22 m, is organized along a central corridor naturally lit by double-height openings. In two places, the corridor expands to accommodate the children's changing rooms, highlighted by colored light wells that penetrate the first floor up to the skylights in the roof. On the other side, at the center of the layout, the double-height activity room benefits from a view of the bell tower and a uniform northern light that illuminates the corridor with indirect light.
The activity rooms are served by a service strip that includes cloakrooms, changing rooms, and dining areas. With extensive glazing, these spaces offer views across the entire depth of the building and facilitate supervision. The activity rooms are completely open to the courtyard to the south. The dormitories are concealed behind enameled glass and treated as wooden alcoves. The built-in furniture and walnut-stained plywood paneling give the spaces a domestic character. The staff areas, on the north side, are lit by an English courtyard at the base of the nailed walls that provide support.
The premises on the upper floor, whose use has long been undetermined, are highly flexible. Movable partitions allow for the creation of a series of rooms along the south facade or to provide a single, expansive space that extends outward onto a large terrace. The circulation areas benefit from the tinted light of the skylights diffused through frosted glass.
The building is both solid and light. It is constructed of tinted concrete, in keeping with the local traditional buildings and the golden stone retaining wall. The gables and the north facade are solid walls with large openings. The south facade is structured by the framework of the bays and a curtain wall infill. The clear and legible superposition of the column - beam - slab - band elements resembles a framework language.
Based on an efficient 7.50 m grid for parking, the post-and-beam structure unfolds uniformly across all levels and is expressed both on the facade and inside the premises. This rational choice, underpinned by a search for economical means, promotes structural unity and the adaptability of the floors, which can be reconfigured at will.
The floors are ribbed precast concrete slabs with a wooden core, whose underside is painted and left exposed. Replacing inert aggregates with wood makes it a low-carbon alternative to concrete slabs and a high-performance construction solution in terms of fire resistance and acoustics. The electrical and ventilation networks are meticulously laid out and remain visible behind a few additional suspended acoustic baffles.
