Located on the heights of Dieppe, the Oscar Niemeyer Sports and Cultural Centre represents the revival of Val Druel district. Named after the master plan’s designer, the project incorporates the natural slope creating a balcony which reveals landscape qualities. Its refined shape accentuates the surroundings, as the pétanque strip terrace and the nearby woods.

The main space offers a seven metres ceiling height and a three-sided view. Inner activities can be seen from the car park and the pedestrian lanes, passers-by can even look through the building. The separation between inside and outside is blurred, the Centre itself provides an alternative walk connecting the lower and higher esplanades. Design sobriety is balanced by attention to detail and quality of materiality.

The project combines raw materials (cast concrete, larch wood, white painted hollow bricks) and produces a kind of preciousness, as witnessed by the oblique line carved in concrete to guide visitors towards the entrance hall, or by circles of light which underline the acroterion at nightfall, reminding curtain folds.

Text provided by the architects.

La entrada Oscar Niemeyer Sports and Cultural Center se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

Rehabilitation of a 16th century house located in the middle of a forest, offering a breathtaking view of the northern slopes of the Pyrenees.

In keeping with budgetary constraints and the idea of a transformation from almost nothing, the intervention is concentrated on the south-eastern part of the house. It is limited to a reduced footprint that radically transforms the relationship with the site – the new south facade is now the main one – and allows to improve the performance of the whole house: new rooms and generous open spaces for a lifestyle in common.

La entrada A house inside a house se publicó primero en Global Spaces.