LOCALARCHITECTURE . photos: © Matthieu Gafsou / LOCALARCHITECTURE
With its small environmental footprint, the design for the new changing rooms and refreshment bar at Daillens sports centre is pioneering and ambitious, despite its mo- dest functional programme. The old municipal changing facilities, dating from the 1970s, had become too run-down to renovate. And so the local authority decided to provide new facilities for its football team, FC Venoge.
The building is organised along the axis of the football pitch, stretching out elegantly and topped with a large metal roof. The roof looks paper-thin, its ridge echoing the ridges of the Jura mountains in the background. The building is mainly made of wood, covering an area of less than 400 m2. It houses changing rooms and showers for the players along with a refreshment bar and its associated amenities and a space for the bowls club.
Local and made-to-measure materials
The wood used comes mainly from local forests (lowland larch), while the straw used to insulate the walls was sup- plied by village farmers. 1,200 small-sized straw bales were made to measure using vintage baling machines that were brought back into service for the task. The dimensions of the straw bales underpin the entire design, referenced even in its smallest details.
The wall frameworks – made of solid wood, with the same substantial depth as the straw bales – were prefabricated and insulated in the workshop.
The primary structure is made of 37 repeated frames of glued laminated timber spaced equally across the floor- plan, again following the straw bale dimensions. These primary fir frameworks have brackets of varying lengths which support the green-stained battens and the corru- gated metal roof
Concave and welcoming
With its curved and concave shape, the roof slips smoothly into the space between the sunflower fields and the foot- ball pitch. The body of the building, protected by its metal canopy, is divided into four separate volumes, arranged symmetrically either side of the halfway line on the foot- ball pitch. These heated facilities are separated by covered spaces where the teams can gather and, at the centre, a communal open space with the refreshment bar.
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