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LILLIAD Learning Center
LILLIAD Learning Center
Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France
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LILLIAD Learning Center
Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France
During the mid-60's, the architect and former student of Le Corbusier, Noël Le Maresquier, designed the central, identity-defining volume of the Lille university campus: a circular library building. Whilst remaining a work of outstanding iconography, the aging building was in need of refurbishment and extension. The classical university library required a reinterpretation into its urban landscape and a redefinition as a modern “Learning Center” by the addition of a new events area, a cafeteria and an “Xperium” – a place where current research results are presented.
In order to enhance the perfect circular form of the existing building and its defining façade, our competition design favored a landscaped solution: an organically-shaped element surrounding the existing volume, creating in this way a new main entrance whilst integrating the new spaces into the concept.
The new landscaped base defines a clear spatial edge to the western square, which becomes a space for communication, harboring life on the campus. The organization of the access routes and new functions beneath the plateau are legible as “old” and “new”: a light-strip offsets the landscaped base from the existing cylindrical volume forming a threshold between both. A large hall from the entrance level to the upper floor connects the old and the new and serves as a communication zone. Whilst the reading areas and book stores are organized in the existing building, the events area and Xperium are publicly positioned in the base. The existing façade is neither broken nor disfigured; the form of the existing building – the geometry of the circle – serves as a design element connecting old and new. The circular form is repeated, scaled and offset, defining new environments with multifunctional uses and architectural qualities. The division of internal spaces is legible within the composition, sketching a landscape of knowledge.
In order to enhance the perfect circular form of the existing building and its defining façade, our competition design favored a landscaped solution: an organically-shaped element surrounding the existing volume, creating in this way a new main entrance whilst integrating the new spaces into the concept.
The new landscaped base defines a clear spatial edge to the western square, which becomes a space for communication, harboring life on the campus. The organization of the access routes and new functions beneath the plateau are legible as “old” and “new”: a light-strip offsets the landscaped base from the existing cylindrical volume forming a threshold between both. A large hall from the entrance level to the upper floor connects the old and the new and serves as a communication zone. Whilst the reading areas and book stores are organized in the existing building, the events area and Xperium are publicly positioned in the base. The existing façade is neither broken nor disfigured; the form of the existing building – the geometry of the circle – serves as a design element connecting old and new. The circular form is repeated, scaled and offset, defining new environments with multifunctional uses and architectural qualities. The division of internal spaces is legible within the composition, sketching a landscape of knowledge.
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