New neighbourhood centre in the Gavotte district in Les Pennes-Mirabeau
Bright and climatically pleasant rooms for creativity, exchange and community
Location:
Viertel La Gavotte in Les Pennes-Mirabeau
Client:
Gemeinde Les Pennes-Mirabeau
Architect:
Tectoniques architectes
Design:
Atelier Méditerranéen
Timber construction:
200 m³ structural glulam made of spruce and larch, 6,800 m² CLT floor, CLT glue-laminated ceiling and CLT walls, 1,900 m² timber frame walls, 2,550m² Facade cladding made of aluminium composite material, 1,720m² of insulated, timber-clad suspended ceilings • 980m² interior wall panelling made of 3-layer panels, 1,700m² suspended external ceilings made of 3-layer panels
Living creativity, meeting each other, growing together – this is what the new public neighbourhood centre in the La Gavotte district in the municipality of Les Pennes-Mirabeau near Marseille stands for. Attractiveness, quality of life and the development of service infrastructures were at the centre of the urban redevelopment project. The municipality wanted to create a high-quality and sustainable centre with a focus on culture and a wide range of cultural services. Due to the hot temperatures in the region in summer, the renewable building material wood was used on a large scale, creating a pleasant indoor climate. The centre offers 5,900 m² of usable space for all generations: A 500-seat restaurant, a school, childcare facilities and an “Ideethèque” for cultural creation and media with its own auditorium. The project was awarded the “Mediterranean Sustainable Buildings” label.
We realised the building ensemble using timber frame construction: the primary structure consists of posts and beams. The ceilings and the substructure of the façades are made of simple or box-shaped cross-laminated timber, which is characterised by its particular stability and load-bearing capacity. The natural building material wood and the use of additional, ecologically valuable materials create a pleasant thermal environment and atmosphere. In order to make the rooms bright and inviting, we have used a lot of spruce wood.
