XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects) . photos: © Matthias van Rossen
There appears to be one constant about academic buildings : they require extensions, often at the cost of their own initial qualities. In this case a new library and a cafeteria are required, in addition to the reorganization of an existing building and the spatial restructuring of an interior street. The obvious answer to the competition brief would have been to place a new volume in the – so far logistic – courtyard around which the school is built. This is the only outside space of the site and a potential common space.
Our proposal was to remove unnecessary elements such as an underused parking floor and to slide a one layer library under a semi-raised public surface. On top of this court a cafeteria is positioned as a pavilion. It takes the form of the loop that is needed to enable deliveries on the square. A large void that perforates the pavilion, three skylights that take the form of benches and the square sloping up at the front create three ways to bring natural daylight to the library level. The intervention in the interior street is comparable to this strategy. Instead of adding, existing floor slabs are demolished in order to create a triple height entrance space that brings light to all the different levels. This unification of the space makes specific issues, such as a reception desk, a student lobby and a suspended bridge more visible.
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Competition 1st prize, delivered
Place Strasbourg, France
Programme library, offices, administration
Year 2013-16
Status completed
Client Région Alsace
Surface 3280 m² (extension) + 3875 m² (rehabilitation)
Budget 12.400.000 euro
Designer XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Solène Le Gallo, Yago Ryosuke, Michel Sikorski, Benoit Streicher
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Solène Le Gallo, Yannick Vergnaud, with Antoine Chaudemanche, Elisabeth D’Aubarede, Mathilde Dutilleul, Felix Forthmeijer, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Claire Lootens, Yago Ryosuke, Michel Sikorski, Benoit Streicher, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte, Rui Zenha
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Solène Le Gallo, Simon Vellut, with Antoine Chaudemanche, Yannick Vergnaud
Consultants Bollinger-Grohmann (structure), Alto Ingénierie (mechanical), Cholley (Economy)
