Les Sables D’Olonne Aréna

Project description

Set in the heart of an exceptional natural environment, the new Arena is a tribute to the diversity of the Sables d’Olonne landscape. Its sinuous beige concrete base evokes the movement of the sand and the meandering of the water as it makes its way through the marshes. Above, an evanescent wave of raw aluminum reveals 4 volumes. The large sports and cultural halls soar skyward. They echo the great seascape of sky and sea coming together as one.

The diversity of landscapes in Les sables d’Olonne is rare.
The Olonne marshes, the retro-littoral bocage, the dune belt, the rocky coastline and, of course, the ocean have seduced and inspired us.
The project is intimately linked to its territory, its spirit, its cultural and social impregnation, the ecosystem of a Vendée coastal site at the heart of emblematic bocage cultures.
The movement of the sand, the meandering of the water as it winds its way through the marshes to the ocean, the alignments of the hedgerows, the wind, the spray, the swell, the foam of the waves, and the iodized scent of the ocean were our raw materials.

And so, between land, sea and sky, between marsh, sand and water, we have imagined an architectural style that pays homage to the beauty of the Sables d’Olonne landscape.

At the heart of the Vannerie block, the project features a mixed sports and cultural program.
To the east of the site, the sports program comprises a modular arena seating between 2,150 and 3,650 people, with 6 different configurations, a 394-seat multi-sports hall that also houses an indoor athletics area and an artificial climbing structure, a 310-seat gymnastics hall, a boxing gym and a body-building room.

To the west, the cultural program includes a large, modular auditorium seating 2,000 to 4,000 people, with 5 different configurations. The back wall of the stage is made up of a double skin comprising an opaque acoustic mobile partition and a monumental accordion glass door 20m wide and 7m high. Generously opening to the outside, it allows the auditorium to be transformed into a naturally-lit exhibition and seminar room, and a Théâtre de Verdure to be created using the stage cage. The Théâtre de Verdure will offer an exceptional landscaped setting for outdoor shows with a capacity of 800 to 3,000. Vast reception areas, numerous function rooms, a café-restaurant and all the annexes dedicated to the public, athletes and artists accompany the large sports and cultural venues. 

The building has a clear composition: a sinuous “belvedere base” from which emerge 4 large, evanescent volumes.

The “Socle Belvédère” houses all the areas adjoining the large activity rooms. It is made of sand-colored mass-stained concrete. It evokes the sinuosity of the marshes, the curves carved in the sand by the meandering water joining the ocean, the tone of the dunes. Four wide steps link the landscape to the plinth, which becomes a belvedere looking out into the distance, giving the public direct access to the tiered levels of the various rooms.

The “four evanescent volumes” correspond to the 4 large halls. Their façades, made of an undulating mesh of raw aluminum, echo the undulation of waves, the evanescent swell, the splashing foam. They appear as an identity signal marking the entrance to the urban area. At night, backlit, they offer a mysterious, elegant presence in the Olonnian sky above the hedgerows.

The building becomes a “promenade” between the activity rooms, with the spaces between the volumes allowing the eye to escape into the distance, and creating intimate, wind-protected spaces on the base.

The balance between respect for the site and the uniqueness of the architecture is the guiding principle of the project.
The building’s layout respects the ecological corridor and the existing landscape grid, complemented by new hedgerows that make the public parking lots almost invisible. The entire site is irrigated by a system of planted valleys, allowing for landscape management of rainwater storage – a highly sensitive issue for this site in the middle of a wetland.
The new facility thus takes its place at the heart of a lush green setting. Water, flora and fauna are at the heart of the project.

This architectural approach develops a clear functional organization to create an ultra-functional tool, both on a daily basis and for major sporting and cultural events, with a perfect differentiation of public, sporting, artistic, service and logistical flows.
The architecture developed is at once distinctive, respectful of the quality of the site into which it is integrated, ultra-functional, modular, scalable and sustainable.