Espace Mayenne is a multifunctional facility including a large sports and entertainment venue with a 4,500 capacity, a gymnasium with a climbing wall for international competitions and a conference hall. In addition to these three venues can be found other spaces, such as partner lounges designed as modular rooms to receive guests during events, as well as offices and cloakrooms for artists and sportsmen. Outside, the project is completed by a 670-space parking lot, a landscaped area and a 250-meter-long cycling ring for national competitions integrating a training track in its center.
Espace Mayenne is located in a former military site bordering the French city of Laval, along an urban ring road. The project began with an urban and landscape study aiming to define guidelines for the site’s future development in accordance with the framework of the new neighborhood aside. This undergoing change area, is crucial to the dynamic revitalization of Laval. The building’s organization respects the landscape structure and the memory of the site, combining sustainability, compactness, economy of means, and the creation of a mass plan to save parcels for future programs. The landscape heritage is remarkable, it is composed of a natural area - marshes, woodlands and wet meadow - and an old bocage grid with sculptural trees and sunken lanes, which has been entirely preserved. An east-west pedestrian-bicycle path is created to structure the site, crossing the public parking lot and the wetland, before widening itself in front of the building into an entrance piazza.
The organic aspect of the building stems from its conception. It is less of a design gesture than the consequence of a process that articulates the three halls on a singular compact volume. The façade is like a skin wrapping itself around the rooms, resulting in a shifting shape that constantly changes depending on the viewpoint. It is composed of three horizontally stacked stripes that deform themselves in order to envelop the volumes as tightly as possible. These three ribbons overlap and rotate around the building, generating fluidity, unity and movement. Together, they create a flexible plane covering the entire height of the building and sometimes elevating itself in certain points in order to uncover glazed façades. Its complex form is subdivided into simple, identical geometric elements allowing a rational construction using textured aluminum plates.
The functional organization of the building responds to its multiple uses. The design of the convertible grand hall is induced by its need for versatility as it must be functional for shows, concerts as well as for sports games. In the sports events’ configuration, the field is closely surrounded by an arena of bleachers. The technical treatment of this hall has been thought out so that it can be quickly converted from one configuration to another: the space is completely transformed according to the program. The design of the walls, alternating between raw white concrete and wool felt, was elaborated in collaboration with acousticians. Areas of sound absorption, reverberation or a mix of both were defined: corrugated raw concrete to distribute the sound in the space, strips of concrete alternating with strips of wool felt for the mixed areas, wool felt stretched with an acoustic mat for the absorbing zones, behind the bleachers. Suspended panels of wool felt were designed for the ceiling, creating an aerial geometric pattern. A vast technical grid is hidden behind them, allowing a great flexibility of equipment and scenic arrangements.
Team:
Architect: Hérault Arnod Architectures
Strcture: Batiserf
Mechanical: Inex
Economy: BMF Conseil
Acoustic: Lasa
Scenography: Ducks sceno
Roads and hydraulic: B3I
Landscape: Sempervirens
Graphism: Gérard Plénacoste
Outdoor lighting: Hervé Audibert
Photography: Cyrille Weiner
Material Used:
1. Facade cladding: Aluminum panel over steel structure
2. Flooring:
Concrete
Resilient Flooring for sport by Sportingsols
Floor and wall tile by Chaudet Carrelage
3. Doors:
Alluminum and glass entrances doors by Druet
Metal doors by Atelier David
Wood doors by SAS Dupré, Gouelle
4. Windows:
Wood frame by SAS Dupré and Gouelle
Metal frame by Atelier David
5. Roofing:
Concrete Built-up roofing by ERTCM Industries
Elastomeric by Cruard
Metal by Raimond
6. Interior lighting: Interior ambient lighting by Cegelec
7. Interior furniture:
Climbing wall by Escatech
Reception furniture by SN Babin SA
Acoustical ceilings by SAS Dupré
Suspension grid by Artbat System
Demountable partitions by SAS Dupré
Cabinetwork and custom woodwork by SAS Dupré and Gouelle
Paints and stains by SAS Frétigné
Wall covering by Gouelle
Paneling by Gouelle
Solid surfacing by Chapes Dallages Industries (CDI)
Sports equipment by Sportingsols and Marty Sports
Signage design by Ouest Gravure
