Typology: conversion of a barn into a cultural centre
Location : Troinex
Client: commune of Troinex
File: FDC
Phase: competition by invitation, in collaboration with GMAA
Date: 2023
With a view to making this site a focal point for the village, the project aims to improve interaction between the different parts of the village. Its location allows it, with little effort, to become a ball-and-socket joint for the entire surrounding fabric.
At the crossroads of worlds: To achieve this, the project proposes, from an urban point of view and in a minimal way, to make traffic flow more smoothly around and through the buildings. The idea is to encourage the village business centre to meet the residential areas. With this in mind, openings are created in the enclosure walls to make the entire site porous. The circulation concept also envisages crossing the width of the building on the ground floor to link the courtyard and the park, via a central mall with a cafeteria. This is no more and no less than a covered street through the building. The existing rear door has been enlarged, and the access sloped to 6%. The path runs through the park in line with the entrance to the multi-purpose hall. The rural area is divided into two parts, a heated area for activities and a temperate area for traffic.
A cultural and social hub: The project exploits the two programmes from two angles. The associations are housed in the two small volumes on the road side. On the other hand, the large volume contains cultural spaces grouped around a central hub.
An interior street: A skylight forms the temperate zone, which is not insulated. Instead of opening up the roof, a few glass tiles are inserted between the clay tiles to let in diffuse zenithal light. These disparate openings in the roof give it a harmonious whole. The constellated sky inside creates a soft, poetic atmosphere. Three roof openings have been added on the north side. The first is for smoke extraction in the stairwell. The second is for natural ventilation, creating a cool draught in summer between the covered street and the patio. And the third to bring light into the library.
Programmatic concept: Given the barn's depth of 15m, it is crucial to create a centralised plan that allows natural light into the heart of the building. The programmes are organised around a central void, backed by a new full-height adobe partition wall. The choice of this type of construction was made possible by the excavation of part of the building and the reuse of this material instead of sending it to landfill. The addition of this wall, detached from the existing structure to mark its place in a new intervention, adds a framework to this crossing typology. The building's service spaces are housed in this new framework, which functions like an inhabited wall, between the thickness of the cannonballs and that of the earth. On the ground floor, visitors can enter a wide open space that spans the full depth and height of the building, as if to take in the interior volume at a glance. In this large space, corridors wind around the cafeteria tables, with a more intimate area behind the feeding troughs. On the other side, linked to the north courtyard, participatory workshops are developed on the ground and first floors. On the 1st floor is the exhibition area. This allows the solid walls to be preserved as much as possible. The exhibition area benefits from natural light filtered through the central void. Appropriate artificial lighting has been added to emphasise the museographic possibilities. The attic houses the library, which combines a small reading room with a large storage area. Finally, the auditorium in the basement, in place of the old wine press, can function independently as it also has its own entrance.
Courtyard and garden: The emphasis is on developing a shaded terrace on the south side of the garden, close to the petanque area served by the building's cafeteria. The henhouse, which was demolished to enhance the opening on the garden side, has become mobile, moving through the garden with the seasons, making the soil richer and more fertile in each location. In addition, there are beehives and an insect hotel to protect biodiversity.
Heritage identity: The aim of the project is to present to the public the constructive logic of these rural buildings. With this in mind, the project is restoring the essence of the facades, distinguishing between the spaces dedicated to the barn and those dedicated to the dwelling. As a result, the newly-created window was closed and the window in the small building, which had been blocked up, was reopened, with the stone frame still present. With little change to the aesthetics of the main facades to preserve the identity of the rural building, the choice was made to mark the new intervention on the gable wall, which was blind at the time, with a series of three slender openings, interacting with the existing loopholes as the only consequential change to the envelope.
