The future home of the Loire Atlantique’s regional council fits into the current urban planning project in the Île de Nantes district and adheres to the master plan, i.e. an «active base»; a «new two-story building» on a level with the railroad where freer planning is established; a block plan based on fragmenting volumes and variable heights; volume shapes favorable to accessible exterior terraces, loggias of varying shapes and gaps in the built-up volumes enabling street views of the inner courtyard; lastly the creation of an in-ground garden beds around a protected green space.
The size of the building project (14,000 sq. meters) in relation to the size of the land (4,900 sq. m) led to the adoption of an «H»-shaped that made it possible to set it back from alignment with the boulevard and to bring out transparencies between the forecourt and the protected wooded area on the west side.
Façade The outer layer alternates glass with differing kinds of metallic cladding generating astonishing tones of reflecting or matt matter, bluish, bronze or golden that plays with the fluctuating light of the Loire Valley.
