Recreational Community Center Le Lignon by Stendardo Menningen Architectes

27/11/2018. [Vernier - Geneva] Switzerland
metalocus, ANDREA GONZÁLEZ

The architectural firm of Stendardo Menningen Architectes was commissioned to build a recreational center on a steep slope between the Lignon school and a pedestrian path leading to the water-banks of the Rhone.

Recreational Community Center Le Lignon by Stendardo Menningen Architectes. Photograph by Federal Studio

Recreational Community Center Le Lignon by Stendardo Menningen Architectes. Photograph by Federal Studio

Site plan. Recreational Community Center Le Lignon by Stendardo Menningen Architectes.

First floor plan. Recreational Community Center Le Lignon by Stendardo Menningen Architectes.

Roof floor plan. Recreational Community Center Le Lignon by Stendardo Menningen Architectes.

Section. Recreational Community Center Le Lignon by Stendardo Menningen Architectes.

Elevation. Recreational Community Center Le Lignon by Stendardo Menningen Architectes.

The project was designed as a compact volume, with a large central area illuminated overhead and with a variety of facilities. When activities can be carried out outdoors, the roof becomes an important element, accessible from the outside, houses thirty urban gardens and a fountain. It is conceived as a real meeting place located in the middle of the treetops.

Description of project by Stendardo Menningen Architectes

The newly constructed recreational center known as the “Jardin Robinson” occupies a strategic position surrounded by the wooded water-banks of the Rhone on one side and the public facilities of the Lignon district with an emblematic expression of a 1960's concrete on the other side.

The building is located on a steep slope between the Lignon school and a pedestrian path leading to the water-banks of the Rhone. This position required the design and construction of a new access ramp located at the main entrance of the building for ease of accessibility.

The project proposed a folded volume in response to its context as well as mobility requirements in the vicinity. The building was designed to integrate transparency and visual openings with its surrounding environment. The external plants and vegetation are internalized with the large glass facades. The building designed for public utility expresses a strong identity by privileging the relationship between the exterior and interior landscape.

The program distribution is qualified by the use of mobile partitions allowing a flexibility of use according to the multiple activities of the users. The main area of the activity rooms has a kitchen with access to the loggia. A core area pierced by four windows allows visual control between the play areas of the children, the mezzanine, the workshop, the entrance and the administration office.

The oak façades are composed of oblique blades reinterpreting the play of trees structuring the site. The roof, accessible from the outside, hosts thirty urban vegetable gardens and a fountain. It is conceived as a real meeting place nestled in the middle of the treetops.

More information

Architects

Stendardo Menningen Architectes

Client

VILLE DE VERNIER

Dates

2018

Architectes Stendardo Menningen

Stendardo Menningen Architectes (SMA) was founded in 2009 by Daniele Stendardo and Adrien Menningen following four years of collaboration in a private architecture firm based in Geneva.

Their expertise lies strongly in the design, study, realization of both residential and commercial projects within the public and private sector. They also have experience in urban studies and landscape.

The practice applies contemporary, sustainable, economical and functional solutions to all its projects regardless of the scale and complexity.