Multimedia Library & Auditorium

The plan for the multimedia library falls within the overall approach of Sustainable Development initiated by the city of Méricourt. Located at the gates of a new eco-district at the junction between the citycentre and the mining town, the multimedia library constitutes the defining feature of this area of 7 hectares where housing, equipment and public services will develop. The multimedia library symbolically and physically means its position at the junction between the centre and the north of the city, with its crossing hall, support for exhibition space, and its double entrance, one in the north, the other in the south. The plan is naturally directed towards a square, with which it maintains a strong connection. It thus falls within a landscape installation made up of a system in thin straps. A canopy marked by alternating light and shade brings about a transition area between indoors and outdoors. This equipment falls within the framework of an environmental initiative benefiting from a bioclimatic design. The building opens naturally to the south, whereas the north proposes a frontage with strong inertia. The implementation of a wood frontage gives a unitary character to the building. The qualities of this exterior adapt to orientations, as well as to the plan (filter, full frontage, canopy supported by a curtain wall, etc). The service spaces act as a thermal buffer to the north, while consultation spaces benefit from the light of a patio and a broad glazed frontage to the south, protected by a vast canopy. Recovery of rainwater, double flow monitored mechanical ventilation, geothermic production, warm domestic supply water come to supplement the device. The uses developed in the garden fall within `the cultural continuity of the multimedia library, which proposes workshops and a teaching course focused on Sustainable Development. We offer equipment where everyone can feel at home, equipment which allows the expression of inhabitants via workshops, exhibition space and the auditorium. The project openly stresses a participatory aspect. Creating the conditions for the exchange and setting up an instrument which allows an appropriation of equipment by inhabitants are the major issues behind this project.