• legibility of the development’s façade
The building is based around four main elements defined in the brief: a sports hall, two activity rooms, and an entrance lobby providing access to these three areas. The combination of these four elements and the way in which they are linked together dictates the architectural form of the facility as a whole.
Each element of the brief is clearly legible from the outside of the building, both with regard to its position, its volume and distinctive architectural cladding (stone for the lower activity room, zinc for the upper activity room and wood for the sports hall).
• Internal street
The building is designed around a covered “internal street”, which extends from the lobby and bisects the building, physically and visually connecting the upper and lower levels of the sports centre.
Designed like a backbone which extends the outside public space inside the building, this internal street takes advantage of the natural slope of the plot of land to provide two separate entrances to the facility and links the three sports rooms, their respective changing rooms and store rooms and the 350-seat tiered seating as well as the toilets.
It is the central artery of the facility, where all users of the sports centre pass, meet, hang out, etc.
• Flow management
The large sports hall and the first activity room (a weight-training gym) are accessible without steps from the forecourt. A large staircase, backed up by a lift, provides access to the tiered seating accessible to members of the public, as well as to the second activity room at the upper level (accessible without stairs from the northern entrance).
The main entrance is located in the extension of the crossing which crowns the perspective from rue Edouard Branly to the southern approach to the neighbourhood and to the town as a whole. The imposing façade, with its brick and wood cladding, extends from mail des Tertres all the way up to the crossing.