Architecture practice graal was commissioned to design the new community space of Beynes, a dispersed territory with a former city, to which three residential villages in the Mauldre Valley, France, are linked. The building is located in an abandoned agricultural area resulting from the layout of the road that runs through the valley.

The former city contains most of its services and institutions, so the new community space aims to be a piece in the middle of the countryside that articulates the rural territory on a domestic scale and, at the same time offers a central facility, with which each inhabitant can identify and reinforce their belonging to this dispersed territory.
The design by graal proposes a regionalist reinvention of the agricultural granary, where the community space emerges from the ground through a mineral volume of soft materiality, covered with a fine gabled roof that stands out in the landscape. The architects propose a community room that can be divided into two large modular spaces on a rectangular floor plan, where the base platform widens like an attic and generates a terrace that allows the slope to be inhabited.

The building is characterized by the change of materiality in its different parts, contrasting the lightness of the cladding and roof materials, with the concrete base anchored to the landscape. Inside, some strategies are used to enhance the link with the landscape, manage the acoustics and articulate the interior in two volumes, whose finishes seek to be as simple and rustic as the outside.


Beynes community hall by graal. Photograph by Maxime Verret.
 

Project description by graal

Beynes, which extends its vast territory along the Mauldre Valley, is made up of an ancient city that brings together most services and institutions, to which are attached three residential villages, a military camp and a national forest. At the meeting point of these four inhabited neighborhoods and far from any urbanity, the new community space inevitably imposes itself on this agricultural and mountainous landscape dotted with suburban residents. The project of this building aims to fit into a domestic and rural scale, offering at the same time a central facility with which each inhabitant can identify and reinforce their belonging to this dispersed territory.

Located along the departmental road that drains the valley, the building is located overlooking an abandoned agricultural area resulting from the layout of the road, the railway located below and an old municipal road to which the building must logically connect. At the intersection of an icon of "roadside" architecture and a regionalist reinvention of the agricultural barn, the community space emerges from the ground through a mineral volume of soft materiality, covered with a fine gabled roof that stands out in the landscape.


Beynes community hall by graal. Photograph by Maxime Verret.

The building is made up of three architectural elements whose roles and identification are made evident by the change in materiality. The mass-dyed concrete base anchors the architectural object in its terrain. Beyond the simple function of wall and protective volume, the base widens like an attic and develops a terrace that allows the slope and the distant landscape to be inhabited. On this base, the wooden roof frame is placed that delimits the object and its fixation to the sky. This additional layer is made legible by the clear division between the concrete of the base and a more airy exterior treatment on the wood cladding which then underlines its role as a mediator. Finally, the metal roof unfolds into two independent sections and completes the building, radically amplifying its interaction with the landscape by projecting the roof overhang outside the volume. Its inclinations, its lightness and its materiality make it a determining element in the dialogue between the pavilions that face it, the landscape and the program.

The double context of the community space leads us to understand its composition in two stages - first by the presentation of elements immediately graspable on the scale of the landscape, then by the attention paid to the detail of the texture and the assembly of complementary materials.


Beynes community hall by graal. Photograph by Maxime Verret.

The volume has a rectangular plan and remains fundamentally elementary. The south façade folds slightly to release a large volume that can be separated into two independent rooms. This folding allows views to be directed towards the entrance and exit of the city. As an element of territorial identity, this festive barn summons both the urban and landscape dimensions.

The building is defined by a technical thickness to the north that organizes two distinct entrances that visually cross the building. The equipment was designed to offer space modulation through the integration of a mobile wall forming a large room of 230 sqm or two smaller rooms. The fold of the façade also facilitates the integration of the mobile wall and the distinction of two volumes in the single space of the large room that then form acoustic niches.

The interior materials are intended to be as simple and rustic as the exterior. The interior vertical walls reveal two treatments in order to emphasize the horizontality of the landscape, manage the acoustics and make the base of the roof intelligible from the inside. The mass-tinted concrete base is revealed inside by the dividing wall between the technical spaces and the room, while the peripheral walls insulated from the inside are clad with perforated wooden panels.


Beynes community hall by graal. Photograph by Maxime Verret.

The equipment has been designed following three basic bioclimatic principles: the installation of an efficient Canadian well that allows the incoming air to be cooled or heated, the management of thermal inertia through the mass of the concrete and the roof overhangs to protect from the sun. direct in summer.

Highly influenced by the infrastructure that surrounds it, the development of the land responds to its topographic and hydrological characteristics. To affect the existing fauna and flora as little as possible and at the same time reduce the economic impact of the developments, the simple widening of the municipal road allows the installation of the base of the building as well as a line of tree-lined parking lots without creating large pockets in accordance with the valley landscape.

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Architects
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Collaborators
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Architect associate, construction site supervision.- Hamac.
Structure.- Atelier Masse.
Fluid.- Sunsquare.
HQE.- Atelier climatique.
Acoustician.- Slam.
Brick mason.- Domatech.
Carpenter.- Poulingue.
Roofer, welder, plumber.-  UTB.
Glazier.- Plastalu.
Drywaller.-  Sorbat.
Door installer.- Dalbergia.
Floor installer.- Doumer-Decock.  
Painter.- Laumax.
Electrician.- GSE.
Kitchen designer.- Lanef Pro.
Road/paving contractor.- Watelet.
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Client
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City of Beynes.
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Area
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Study phase.- 2018-2020.
Construction.- 2022-2023.
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Location
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Le Petit Gland, RD119, 78650 Beynes, France.
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Budget
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€ 1,550,000.
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Photography
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Graal, founded by Carlo Grispello and Nadine Lebeau, is dedicated to architecture and urban strategies. The firm strives to enhance the qualities of uses, ways of dwelling and project materiality.

The firm’s projects are developed through an analytical and sensitive approach to give a real place to the role of territorial investigation, the public dimension and the economics of project throughout the design phases. Graal aspires to render the specific features of a site and a project commission through a sober, independent and contemporary language. Through an attitude coherent with the context and an investigation on the relational space, the projects carry a positive social and environmental impact.

Graal is committed to dealing with every scale, from interior design to the urban scale project. The office’s practice encompasses France and abroad in close collaboration with multidisciplinary consultants in order to guarantee intelligent and feasible projects. graal has been distinguished on several occasions. In 2016, the office was prizewinner of the ADC Awards and received the Europe 40 under 40 award attributed by the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Urban Centre for Architecture, Art Design and Urban Studies.

Nadine Lebeau. Architect DPLG, graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris la Villette. She joined Atelier Seraji as architect before created graal architecture with Carlo Grispello in 2011. Prizewinner of 40 under 40 in 2016 by the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Urban Centre for Architecture, Art Design and Urban Studies. Named among the 100 young leaders who invent the city of tomorrow by the Choiseul Institute in September 2018.

Carlo Grispello. Architect DPLG, graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris la Villette. He worked as lead architect for Bruno Mader and as architect for Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Created graal architecture with Nadine Lebeau in 2011.  Associate professor of theories and practices of architectural and urban design at the École Supérieure d’Architecture de Nantes since 2016. Prizewinner of 40 under 40 in 2016 by the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Urban Centre for Architecture, Art Design and Urban Studies.
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