Winners of the international competition for the headquarters of the Sicily region
30/03/2021.
[Palermo] Italy
metalocus, MARÍA ONSINA
metalocus, MARÍA ONSINA
The team of architects made up of Clément Blanchet, Francois Leclercq and Nicolas Laisné, together with TEKNE Engineering, have won the international competition for the new Headquarters of the Sicily Region in Palermo, Italy.
The project will be a new urban landmark on the ground and, once built, will become the largest public facility built in Sicily in the last 50 years.
The project will be a new urban landmark on the ground and, once built, will become the largest public facility built in Sicily in the last 50 years.
Visualization by PLOMP. Headquarters of the Sicily region by Leclercq Associés + Nicolas Laisné + Clément Blanchet
Visualization by PLOMP. Headquarters of the Sicily region by Leclercq Associés + Nicolas Laisné + Clément Blanchet
Visualization by PLOMP. Headquarters of the Sicily region by Leclercq Associés + Nicolas Laisné + Clément Blanchet
Visualization by PLOMP. Headquarters of the Sicily region by Leclercq Associés + Nicolas Laisné + Clément Blanchet
Visualization by PLOMP. Headquarters of the Sicily region by Leclercq Associés + Nicolas Laisné + Clément Blanchet
Visualization by PLOMP. Headquarters of the Sicily region by Leclercq Associés + Nicolas Laisné + Clément Blanchet
Visualization by PLOMP. Headquarters of the Sicily region by Leclercq Associés + Nicolas Laisné + Clément Blanchet
Visualization by PLOMP. Headquarters of the Sicily region by Leclercq Associés + Nicolas Laisné + Clément Blanchet
Visualization by PLOMP. Headquarters of the Sicily region by Leclercq Associés + Nicolas Laisné + Clément Blanchet
Visualization by PLOMP. Headquarters of the Sicily region by Leclercq Associés + Nicolas Laisné + Clément Blanchet
Located in the center of the capital of Silicia, the building designed by Clément Blanchet, Francois Leclercq and Nicolas Laisné, is the urban reflection of Palermo and its closest natural environment.
The construction resembles a stepped mountain with an organic structure, distributed vertically, which is articulated in front of the city and the delimitation of the sea.
The construction resembles a stepped mountain with an organic structure, distributed vertically, which is articulated in front of the city and the delimitation of the sea.
Description of project by Clément Blanchet, Francois Leclercq and Nicolas Laisné
Located at the heart of the Sicilian capital, the building is driven by an urban reflection.
"An architecture/territory, between city, sea and mountain, connected to the public practice of the natural soil, and to the discovery of the Sicilian horizons with breathtaking views. An element of a Mediterranean city; intense, with its squares and vibrant ground floors, as alive for its users as its inhabitants. The project will radiate throughout the district, the city and the country."
François Leclercq
This new 120,000 m² metropolitan centre will be geared towards new uses and environmental challenges. The buildings will be organised around a lively central axis and three squares, variations based on Mediterranean urban models. Activities will take place on animated ground floors, with local shops and a variety of programmes for everyone - shops, cafés and restaurants, a wellness centre, a sports facility, a church, a crèche, a school...
"A proposal resolutely oriented towards contemporary Mediterranean buildings that meet the challenges of southern environment. The buildings, made of wood and steel, are adorned with stone sourced from various Sicilian quarries. The location of the buildings has been specifically thought out according to the direction of the summer and winter winds, to provide natural coolness."
Nicolas Laisné.
Environmental issues also guided the design of the vegetation, which will help to combat the effects of urban heat islands.
"Instead of designing isolated or solitary architectures, we propose an urban arrangement, anchored to the ground. The volumes and interconnections offer a three-dimensional experience to the project, encouraging social and human encounters. A metropolitan hanging garden is created to offer a unique view of Palermo."
Clément Blanchet.
On the 6th floor of the complex, il nuovo orizonte (the new horizon) is a hanging garden that will offer exceptional views of the sea and the Sicilian mountains. The Centro Direzionale Regione Sicilia is conceived as a peaceful and accessible place, with flexible working spaces and meeting places for the Regione’s employees with large cafe terraces and eateries to welcome all citizens.
More information
Design team
Developer
Sicilia Region.
Area
120.000 sqm + 60.000 sqm parking.
Budget
€270 M.
Dates
Project.- 2021.
Location
Palermo, Italy.
François Leclercq. Leclercq Associés
François Leclercq founded the architectural firm Dusapin Leclercq in the early 1980s. Winner of various awards (Pan XII, Albums des jeunes architectes et des paysagistes, Prix de la Première Œuvre), the agency has grown over the years and acquires recognition in both town planning and architecture (Équerre d'argent, Pyramide d'argent, Grand Prix de la Construction Bois).
In 2004, the agency moved to rue du Repos, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. In 2019, with the appointment of three partners - Anne-Claire Eberhard, Charles Gallet and Paul Laigle - the structure takes on a new dimension. Her name is now Leclercq Associés.
Leclercq Associés places at the heart of its practice the ability to merge landscape and architecture, site and plan, form and use, individual and collective. Anxious to combine the ordinary and the exceptional, the agency plays the role of facilitator. To renew its know-how and attract young talents, the agency operates as a multidisciplinary incubator: architects, engineers, geographers, town planners, graphic designers, designers, model makers.
In 2004, the agency moved to rue du Repos, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. In 2019, with the appointment of three partners - Anne-Claire Eberhard, Charles Gallet and Paul Laigle - the structure takes on a new dimension. Her name is now Leclercq Associés.
Leclercq Associés places at the heart of its practice the ability to merge landscape and architecture, site and plan, form and use, individual and collective. Anxious to combine the ordinary and the exceptional, the agency plays the role of facilitator. To renew its know-how and attract young talents, the agency operates as a multidisciplinary incubator: architects, engineers, geographers, town planners, graphic designers, designers, model makers.
architects Laisné Roussel
Laisné Roussel architects, is an architecture studio established in Paris since 2003. The partners Nicolas Laisné and Dimitri Roussel have manage to gather a multicultural and multidisciplinary team together operating in the fields of architecture, urbanism, research and development. These 30 multipurpose and proactive collaborators are fully part of the laisné roussel outlook.
Internationally recognized, laisné roussel develops a wide range of projects and programs, from small scale private homes to large scale urban design. While many of their designs are distinguished private operations including residential buildings, offices and campus, they have also completed highly recognized public facilities, such as educational buildings.
Aiming to enrich its projects, the studio punctually joins forces with other architects. Thus, it enables them to conceive more complex proposals and to gain skills through a collaborative dialogue. Sharing visions, practices and methods are dynamics they implement to step out from their comfort zone and to renew propositions. Daring and optimistic, the studio works especially within constraints to convert them into opportunities for creating added value.
Realistic and open, laisné roussel’s architects are in tunewith the pulse of contemporary life and its permanent changes. Their designs are future oriented while responding to immediate needs. laisné roussel is currently developing innovative\/groundbreaking projects such as the residential tower l’Arbre Blanc (the White Tree) in Montpellier, the bioclimatic offices building in Nice Méridia and a new shared educational building of Ecole Polytechnique in the cluster of Paris Saclay.
laisné roussel is also designing projects with a more cultural purpose such as a pavilion for the next Lyon Architecture Biennale (summer 2017) or the exhibition “Haut Dehors” with the artists Cyrille Weiner and Elvire Bonduelle.
27, rue Barbès
The office
The office is based on 27 rue Barbès in Montreuil. Located in a former wood manufacture, the refurbished craftman’s workshop is now a collaborative open space.
Hosting laisné roussel collaborators, it is also a creative incubator for various partners such as designers, photographers and writers. It aims to create a place where multidisciplinary profiles can exchange and collaborate. Fostering knowledge spillover, 27 rue Barbès is an adress where laisné roussel considers new ways of working.
Internationally recognized, laisné roussel develops a wide range of projects and programs, from small scale private homes to large scale urban design. While many of their designs are distinguished private operations including residential buildings, offices and campus, they have also completed highly recognized public facilities, such as educational buildings.
Aiming to enrich its projects, the studio punctually joins forces with other architects. Thus, it enables them to conceive more complex proposals and to gain skills through a collaborative dialogue. Sharing visions, practices and methods are dynamics they implement to step out from their comfort zone and to renew propositions. Daring and optimistic, the studio works especially within constraints to convert them into opportunities for creating added value.
Realistic and open, laisné roussel’s architects are in tunewith the pulse of contemporary life and its permanent changes. Their designs are future oriented while responding to immediate needs. laisné roussel is currently developing innovative\/groundbreaking projects such as the residential tower l’Arbre Blanc (the White Tree) in Montpellier, the bioclimatic offices building in Nice Méridia and a new shared educational building of Ecole Polytechnique in the cluster of Paris Saclay.
laisné roussel is also designing projects with a more cultural purpose such as a pavilion for the next Lyon Architecture Biennale (summer 2017) or the exhibition “Haut Dehors” with the artists Cyrille Weiner and Elvire Bonduelle.
27, rue Barbès
The office
The office is based on 27 rue Barbès in Montreuil. Located in a former wood manufacture, the refurbished craftman’s workshop is now a collaborative open space.
Hosting laisné roussel collaborators, it is also a creative incubator for various partners such as designers, photographers and writers. It aims to create a place where multidisciplinary profiles can exchange and collaborate. Fostering knowledge spillover, 27 rue Barbès is an adress where laisné roussel considers new ways of working.
CLEMENT BLANCHET
Clément Blanchet Architecture (cBA) is an innovative architecture and urban design practice that brings together multidisciplinary and multicultural actors on themes around the city, architecture and all media related to it. The firm approaches the design of architecture, infrastructure and the city as necessarily interrelated, and in negotiation with planning, development and public space. The practice is structured as a laboratory, informing and generating architecture and urbanism out of the conditions of the city and territory.
The synergy between theory and practice is the base of its methodological approach. The practice engages the consciousness of reality, of the real world, but also the analysis of phenomena – environmental, developmental, economic - that affect and feed architecture. This methodology not only deals with inventions but also with manipulations, making program legible, and ensuring resilience and durability over time. This structure operates at multiple scales; from designing interiors to public cultural facilities, while considering specific approaches in the areas of education, housing, infrastructure, landscape and urbanism. The firm has also developed tools for dialogue with different urban and project actors, aimed to place the user at the heart of the creative process.
Clément Blanchet is Principle of Clément Blanchet Architecture (cBA) and a former Associate of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), where he joined in 2004.
In 2011, Clement Blanchet was appointed Director of OMA France, with whom cBA continues to collaborate with on ongoing projects led by Blanchet.
He graduated with high honours from the Architectural school of Versailles and has been an invited critic in France, England, Holland, Switzerland, Denmark & Sweden. He currently teaches at Paris Val de Seine Architectural School and ESA. Clément Blanchet divides his time between this firm in Paris and the United States where he also teaches at the University of Michigan and Rice University.
Dimitri Roussel. DREAM
DREAM (Dimitri Roussel Ensemble Architecture Métropole) is an architectural firm founded by Dimitri Roussel in 2018. Dimitri collaborates with around thirty designers who also have international profiles and who share his humanist creative vision.
DREAM creates spaces adapted to modern-day lifestyles. Their designs aim to promote wellbeing and social interaction both in working and living spaces. The agency develops projects of various types and scales: housing, offices, sports facilities, ephemeral architecture. DREAM has particularly strong expertise in programmatic diversity.
DREAM favours bioclimatic architecture: they choose responsible construction methods and collaborate with local partners who share their values. The agency puts ecology at the centre of its projects, from bioclimatic design to the use of bio-basedmaterials. DREAM’s expertise and values have contributed to the agency’s reputation as a leading specialist in wooden architecture.
DREAM creates spaces adapted to modern-day lifestyles. Their designs aim to promote wellbeing and social interaction both in working and living spaces. The agency develops projects of various types and scales: housing, offices, sports facilities, ephemeral architecture. DREAM has particularly strong expertise in programmatic diversity.
DREAM favours bioclimatic architecture: they choose responsible construction methods and collaborate with local partners who share their values. The agency puts ecology at the centre of its projects, from bioclimatic design to the use of bio-basedmaterials. DREAM’s expertise and values have contributed to the agency’s reputation as a leading specialist in wooden architecture.
Nicolas Laisné. Nicolas Laisné Architectes
Nicolas Laisné founded his firm Nicolas Laisné Architectes in 2005. The firm develops urban planning, architecture and interior design projects, from design to execution and site supervision.
With his team of 50 people based in Paris, Nicolas Laisné works for public authorities, as well as private players and individuals in France and abroad. The firm has taken part in a number of international events, including the Venice Biennale in 2021.
Thanks to his open-mindedness, his natural curiosity and his taste for dialogue, Nicolas Laisné skillfully juggles multiple influences. His holistic vision of architecture allows him to invite philosophers, agronomists, botanists, artists and even data scientists to collaborate with him. He puts together a new multi-disciplinary and international team for each project.
With his team of 50 people based in Paris, Nicolas Laisné works for public authorities, as well as private players and individuals in France and abroad. The firm has taken part in a number of international events, including the Venice Biennale in 2021.
Thanks to his open-mindedness, his natural curiosity and his taste for dialogue, Nicolas Laisné skillfully juggles multiple influences. His holistic vision of architecture allows him to invite philosophers, agronomists, botanists, artists and even data scientists to collaborate with him. He puts together a new multi-disciplinary and international team for each project.
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