Consortium : Agence Spatiale + BGLA architecture
At the Heart of the Forest
The image of a "forest-city" immediately comes to mind when exploring Saint-Colomban. This connection, “at the heart of nature,” inspires a design deeply rooted in the symbiosis between the environment and its citizens. The proposed program for the library, in synergy with the existing one, emphasizes activities around reading, establishing this place of knowledge and sharing as a cornerstone of community life and personal growth for the municipality’s citizens.
Today, the library serves as an inclusive third place: beyond home and work, it offers a space to meet, dream, and realize projects, eat or have coffee, rest, find inspiration, play, learn, and create. These fundamental elements, the forest canopy and the community-oriented nature of the site, guide an architectural approach that bridges nature and humanity, designed for both in harmony and synchronicity, attuned to the rhythm of the seasons and daily life.
The project proposes reforesting the site, creating diverse forest atmospheres adapted to the program. The building comprises a sequence of three volumes: the multipurpose hall, the createlab, and the library.
*The Nourishing Forest: The Outdoor Bistro*
The Nourishing Forest courtyard, both a social hub and a living ecosystem, highlights culture and food through locally grown plants cultivated for seed banks and culinary workshops, inviting visitors to celebrate natural cycles and the environment.
*The Imaginary Forest: The Library*
An extension of the reception area and youth space, the Imaginary Forest courtyard features tiered seating and play areas for all ages in a magical atmosphere conducive to storytelling and discovery, seamlessly interacting with the library’s interior spaces.
*The Inhabited Forest: A Domestic Scale*
The Inhabited Forest offers reading and relaxation areas along a path, blending intimate scales, a sheltered gallery, and calibrated roofs designed to optimize natural light and comfort while harmonizing with the site.
These programmatic elements are interconnected by a “path” that organizes the adjacent spaces and the central “clearing,” which serves as the library’s luminous and inviting reception desk. The building’s overall form, tapered and fragmented, creates numerous landscape views and optimizes solar gains.
Visible from the moment one arrives, the building volumes showcase expressive roofs, resembling large skylights oriented to highlight diverse landscape features. These roofs distinguish and emphasize key functions of the program, making them easily identifiable from the outside.
Wood is a prominent material, whether as massive structural elements or interior finishes, celebrating the natural qualities of the material and its biophilic benefits.
The project is centered on creating a vibrant space where architecture and nature merge and complement one another. It embraces a user-focused approach, prioritizing well-being, comfort, creativity, and a sense of connection to the environment.
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