The architectural studio Octavio Mestre in collaboration with Michel Matival from C+D studio have designed a new coworking space for Communauté des Communes Sud Roussillon (CCSR). The project is located in les Caves Ecoiffier, the old wine cellars of the French town of Alénya, located near the city of Perpignan, bordering Spain.

The design is characterized by its enormous wooden beams running from façade to façade and by its variety of modular units, that can be rented, which adapt to the needs of young local companies and start-ups in the region.

The intervention led the group of architects Octavio Mestre and C+D to open gaps in the rear façade and roof to illuminate the interior space through skylights with solar control.

A series of mobile modules were implemented inside to facilitate different layouts and accesses through sliding doors. The project continually seeks flexibility in spaces that allow the rotation of users, creating spaces that can be joined together more easily.

Constructively, the new is constantly sought to be differentiated from the old, through the contrast of the new wooden modules and the old roof beams supported on the stone walls. Due to regulations, which required the addition of a second evacuation route, a second external staircase was designed on the façade.

Déclic Tiers-Lieu in Alénya by Octavio Mestre. Photograph by Adrià Goula

Déclic Tiers-Lieu in Alénya by Octavio Mestre. Photograph by Adrià Goula.

Project description by  Octavio Mestre 

In Les Caves Ecoiffier, an old winery from 1800 in Alénya, a town near Perpignan (France), and under enormous wooden beams that run from façade to façade, a coworking space was proposed for the town, whose modules can be rented at will, according to the needs of young local companies and start-ups in the region, the Communauté des Communes Sud Roussillon (CCSR).

The intervention involved opening holes in the rear façade (corten steel boxes that can be inhabited as was already done in the Olivé Gumà Clinic in Barcelona or in the Tamariu house) and in the roof, through skylights with solar control that illuminate the central space.

Déclic Tiers-Lieu en Alénya por Octavio Mestre. Fotografía por Adrià Goula
Déclic Tiers-Lieu in Alénya by Octavio Mestre. Photograph by Adrià Goula.

A series of modules were established, many of them mobile to favor different implementations and modules accessible through sliding doors that can be joined at will with others. At the end of the enclosure, at the top, there is a small stand for presentations and community events. The project is committed to maximum flexibility that allows user rotation.

The regulatory need for a second evacuation route invited us to design the emergency staircase on the rear façade that interacts with the new windows and is presented in a sculptural form.

Déclic Tiers-Lieu en Alénya por Octavio Mestre. Fotografía por Adrià Goula
Déclic Tiers-Lieu in Alénya by Octavio Mestre. Photograph by Adrià Goula.

Above, and at the level of the beams, the rest areas were planned, from a playful component: a series of networks that allowed the youngest to live, in the clouds, and have another spatial perception of the place that, finally, by the complications that entailed regulatory effects were not implemented.

The floor is exposed concrete. Contrast is voluntarily sought between the new wooden modules and the old roof beams (trying to minimize height problems), while leaving the stone of the walls visible.

The project is one of three public competitions won in France in the last three years, with C+D as a local partner.

More information

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Architects
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Octavio Mestre. Lead architects.- Nicolas Cregut and Laurent Duport.

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Collaborators
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Project.- Pablo Mera and Sofía Simioni.
Construction management.- Michel Matival from C+D.
Engineering.- PGI, Alpha Omega.
Furniture.- AB Concept.
Control office.- Qualiconsult.
Preliminary studies.- COGEAM (Claire Gousailles and Benjamin Hours).

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Builder
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Masonry.- Toulouges
Enclosures and locksmithing.- ACS fermetures.
Partitions and plastering.- Technobat.
Electricity.- ASC + Jean Tourres.
Plumbing and water evacuation.- Mares.
Painting.- Atelier Oliver.

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Developer
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CCSR Communauté des Communes Sud Roussillon.- Thierry Del Poso, Jerôme Tixador, Philippe Casenove and Sonia Bourgeon.
Mairie d'Alenya Jean.- André Magdalou.

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Area Superficie
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 453 sqm.

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Dates
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2021-2024.

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Location
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Alénya, France.

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Photography
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Octavio Mestre (Barcelona, ​​1960) is an architect from the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB). After completing his studies he received scholarships in various European countries. In 1983 and 1988 he was a professor in the Department of Theory and Composition at the ETSAB and between 1987 and 1990 he was the municipal architect of Barcelona in the Planning Services.
 
 In 1990 he founded his studio, OMA Octavio Mestre Arquitectos, His works include numerous single-family homes, the HLM housing block in Toulouse (1993 National Social Housing Award in France), the comprehensive renovation of the L’illa Diagonal Shopping Centre and the Olivé Gumà Clinic in Barcelona, ​​and various corporate headquarters, including the Mutua Madrileña on Paseo de La Castellana and the headquarters of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva.

He was a visiting professor at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) during the spring semester of 1994, and is a founding member of the School of Architecture of the International University of Catalonia (UIC), where he taught between 1996 and 2001. Since 1997 he has also been a professor of master's and postgraduate courses at the Barcelona School of Design and Engineering (ELISAVA) on corporate and office design, as well as at several French, Italian and American universities. Octavio Mestre was a correspondent for several magazines, the author of numerous articles, curator of exhibitions, and has published numerous books on architecture. He is currently co-director of the digital magazine t18.

OMA Octavio Mestre Arquitectos also includes architects Bernadita Jofre (1993), Sofía Simioni, and Pablo Mera (1995).

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Published on: November 8, 2024
Cite: "New coworking in Alénya. Déclic Tiers-Lieu by Octavio Mestre" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/new-coworking-alenya-declic-tiers-lieu-octavio-mestre> ISSN 1139-6415
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