Emphasizing the horizon. Sports Center by Martin Duplantier Architectes
06/04/2017.
[Bussy-Saint-Georges] France
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA
Descrition of project by Martin Duplantier Architectes
Located on the edge of this suburban town, the building faces the horizon made of agricultural fields and infrastructures lines.
For Bussy, this new and growing city at the East of Greater Paris area, this sport center represents one of the major public facilities. The rural and «fake-old» identity of the surroundings and its individual houses plays the role of contrast for the project.
Emphasizing the horizon of the fields by cutting horizontally the three volumes of the building is the first step of the project. The alternation of empty and full portions develops a checkerboard of concrete and translucent elements that could be recognized day and night, from close as well as from far away.
The calm but radical architecture draws its sources from the rural vocabulary (farms, cellars) where the functions and fluxes create forms.
The main entrance is set in the central block on the south facade. Split in two by the horizon line, slightly elevated, it offers a clear view on the great landscape and distributes the whole complex with minimum clearance. Outside, a whistle-shaped balcony gives view to the panorama. On the rear facade, the central block stands out and gives access to two broad concrete ramps.
Finally, the two gyms, one with galleries and the other dedicated to racket sports, are partially underground. Their upper part (above the skyline) is translucent and offers a soft light to the users.
Martin Duplantier. Born in 1979 in Bayonne, of Franco-Belgian roots, Martin Duplantier grew up between Bordeaux and the United States. He earned his master degree from HEC Paris in 2003 and his Masters from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris Malaquais in 2007. He draws from his experiences in China, Mexico, and Niger, where he developed, alongside the Akaras Association, a method of earthen construction that uses no wood. He began his career in world-renowned architecture firms, namely with an internship at Gerkan, Marg und Partners Architekten in Berlin. He was then an employee at David Chipperfield Architects in London, where he was part of the Concept Team in charge of international competitions.
Stemming from his previous collaboration with David Chipperfield, the pair decided to work together on the extension of the HEC campus at Jouy-en-Josas, which was delivered in Summer 2012. In the same stride, Martin is working on other campus-based projects, both urban and rural, that act as reservoirs for people and ideas where knowledge, the intangible, and the immaterial, mesh.
The main Emergency Centre of Biscarosse, completed in September 2012, was his first civic project.
Martin Duplantier has also worked on a number of projects at the regional scale: the Seafront at Anglet, the development of Simrishamn Harbour (Sweden), the Euratlantique Project in Bordeaux, and the freshly rewarded Alzette regeneration project on the border to Luxemburg.
Driven by the desire to explore the design problems of our time (i.e. the rethinking of the campus ideal, the densification of urban centers, the rehabilitation of once-pristine lands, etc.), and the wish to enrich both his practice and approach, Martin attended the University of Bordeaux in 2011 to earn his Masters of Urban Design, all the while continuing his work at his firm.