Pressoiras Sports Hall

Project description

Extension of the Pressoiras Sports Hall, including an interregional multi-sports hall, a gymnastics hall, a set of locker rooms, renovation of the existing facilities, and development of the outdoor spaces.

The new Pressoiras Sports Hall will feature activity rooms that can operate independently, simultaneously, or together in a complementary manner for large events.
The project site is surrounded by a neighborhood of single-story houses, slightly below the site, with only their large slate roofs visible. Upon arriving at the site, the striking black backdrop forms a very present stage setting. Our building, with its white and ethereal tones, harmoniously integrates into this context with its lightness.

All of the ancillary spaces are grouped into a low plinth, 5 meters in height, which also houses the table tennis/dance room that does not require significant height. This design unifies all the disparate elements, simplifying their volumes. Five “boxes” rise from this plinth, with their volume corresponding to the required internal height for the sports activities taking place within them.

The new public entrance hall is also marked by a glass box that facilitates orientation and emphasizes the building’s public status. The overall layout of the building allows for an unobstructed view of the multi-sports hall #2 from the public entrance hall and provides access to the gymnastics hall.

The simplicity of the volumes of both the existing activity rooms and the new ones contributes to the unity of the complex, clearly displaying the organization of the volumes from the outside. The low height of the plinth, in keeping with the scale of the surrounding single-story homes, provides a coherent visual relationship with them.

Above the plinth, the emerging boxes are composed, on the three non-glazed sides, of large satin aluminum panels whose materiality offers an ethereal perception, softening the perceived mass of the volumes. The entirely glazed box of the new public access hall, highly visible from Rue des Nations Unies and the parking lot, becomes a vigilant and protective lantern at night.

The plinth is made of silk-screened glass panels, with varying transparency depending on the type of space and the views we wish to create into the activity rooms. Its volume reads as a monolith, contributing to the desired architectural simplicity. The chosen white color enhances this simplicity, and through the effects of the gradient silkscreen printing, it creates a vaporous, airy effect that contrasts with the slate roofs of the surrounding houses and brings a joyful, light-filled atmosphere perfectly suited to a sports facility.