[EN]

MANTES AQUATIC CENTER

Restricted competition 2008

Client: Communauté d'Agglomération de Mantes-en-Yvelines

Site: Mantes-Ville, France

Floor Area: 2300 m2

Construction cost: 9 200 000 €

Architectural design: SERERO Architects:  Raphael Boursier, Taichi Sunayama, Yoichi Ozawa,  David Serero,  RuoFan Shen, Fabrice Zaini.

Engineers: SECHAUD&BOSSUYT Ingénierie, Mechanical Engineer : ETHIS Ingénierie

1-Architectural Concept

Our project seeks before all to develop a strong coherence between the concepts of energetic and environmental performance, functional organization and urban identity on a scale that matches the “Mantes Université” project.

Starting with the idea that the architectural envelope has a determining role in environmental control of a building, we sought a continuity between facade and roof in their form and performance. We then relentlessly purified the form of this envelope in search for simplicity, and functional obviousness.

In a sporting building of this scale, natural light has a central role. We placed it in the middle of the spaces while working on a system of oculus integrated into the building skin. The new aquatic center is designed as a large market, which covers the entire building. This hall is a light wooden hull with oculus whose position makes it possible to control the level of illumination on each basin.

We sought to optimize the position glass surfaces on the façade in order to limit thermal losses and to increase solar contributions. To this aim, the north side of the building is closed by a band which includes the public steps, the academy and public cloakrooms, and the fitness center which is largely open on the basins. The principal access is located on the East side, on a space in double height, which contains the academy reception, the administration offices, and the fitness center entrance. On the level of the reception hall, the roof extends cantilever on a landscape open on the surrounding urban environment.

2-Urban Insertion

We designed the new Mantes Aquatic Center like a genuine urban catalyst. Centered on a planted tree-lined walk, which goes from the old Sulzer market to the multimodal platform, the site of the new Aquatic Center has a central role in the structuring of this new district of Mantes and its urban articulation. It is a hull posed in the continuity of the tree-lined walk, which marks the limit of the garden and visually prolongs it inside the building. The hall of basins being roughly on the level of the street, a set of sights between the interior of the Aquatic Center and the surrounding site was studied to stimulate the desire for discovering the Aquatic Center and for making it take part in the animation of the pedestrian way. This work on the sights extends to the building’s façade by the use of transparent and sanded glass, zinc envelopes, and sunshields with spacing varying according to the degree of required intimacy.

3-Intelligent Roof

The roof is the key component of this project, it is designed like a “living” skin of great performance, which controls the internal ambiance of the building:

- It bathes the basin hall and the Aquatic Center with natural light. In end-of-day, lamps installed on the side of oculus and controlled by photosensitive cells gradually compensate for the lack of natural light.

- The oculus all are directed North, making it possible to capture an indirect light, of stable intensity which avoids any reflection on the basins.

- It ventilates the building in a passive way thanks to an automatic opening system connected to the building’s Technical Management. The form of the oculus in roof is also conceived to increase the Venturi effect and thus natural ventilation.

- The roof covers all the spaces of the Aquatic Center and thus allows a visual bond between the various programs. This gives a very great clearness to the organization of the building and this is perceptible from the hall.

- The southern part of the roof offers an important surface with a continuous solar exposure that the building makes profitable. This zone integrates a surface of 300 m2 of solar panels making it possible to provide warm water for an equivalent of 1000 showers per day. This renewable source of heat could also be used in various zones of the building. These panels will be of type “roof AS”, corrugated out of anthracite stainless steel of great performance and easy maintenance, and have the advantage of being able to be curved. Moreover, 150m2 of photovoltaic panels makes it possible to compensate for part of the building’s electrical consumption in a renewable way.

- From its geometry, the roof generates a singular identity for the building, suitable to structure and mark the new pedestrian district.

4- Structure of the Building

1- The structure of the building is made of a base of concrete walls and a wood roof frame. This frame consists of wooden lattice with a rhombus pattern of 2 meters side, taken by double wooden beams braced in lamibois (2 times more powerful than beams in glued lamellate). These double beams allow for a complete integration of the oculus. This frame is placed on rectangular 200mm x 300mm columns.

2- The frame is braced by a series of concrete load-bearing walls, and by vertical circulation blocks. A coating in Kalzip aluminium with zinc-like finition is installed on this frame and is spread in a continuous way on the entire roof. This external roof coating has a 35-year guarantee with an average 100-year life-cycle. Rainwater will be recovered in gutters integrated into the roof.

3- According to the programs placed under the roof, and to their needs in natural light, we created oculus directed north to bath spaces with light and to offer a very great quality of usage.

4-The under-face of this frame is equipped with a ceiling out of wood slats. The choice of wood for the ceiling and the structure of the building is for us an important component and this for several reason: wood is the only material with a negative overall CO2 assessment because its production uses photosynthesis which consumes CO2. It is a resource produced locally and which can be implemented locally. Its production also takes part in a movement of reforestation of our environment.

5-Lighting

The oculus in the wooden roof make it possible to bring natural light to the center of the building throughout the day. The oculus all are directed North, making it possible to capture a light of stable intensity and color. A screening system for these “wells of light” is being considered by using a device of mechanized horizontal roller blinds. In end-of-day, lamps installed on the sides of the oculus and connected to photosensitive cells will gradually compensate for the lack of natural light. This device will use the inside of the wooden vault as a reflector for the for basin market and the Aquatic Center lighting.

In the evening, external spaces of the Aquatic Center will be marked out by electroluminescent diodes with very long life-cycles and reduced energy consumption. This beaconing allows for subtle nightly location of public spaces and proposes a truly luminous scenography of the buildings which structure the site.

POLE NAUTIQUE DE MANTES-VILLE

Concours restreint 2008

Maître d’ouvrage: Communauté d'Agglomération de Mantes-en-Yvelines

Site: Mantes-Ville, France

Surface: 2500m2

Coût de construction: 9 200 000 €

"...Notre projet cherche avant tout à développer une forte cohérence entre les notions de  performance énergétique et environnementale, d’organisation fonctionnelle et d’identité urbaine . 

Partis de l’idée que l’enveloppe architecturale a un rôle déterminant dans le contrôle environnemental, d’un bâtiment, nous avons cherché une continuité, dans leur forme et dans leur performance entre façades et toiture. Nous avons ensuite inlassablement épuré la forme de cette enveloppe à la recherche d’une simplicité et d’une évidence fonctionnelle et urbaine.  Le nouveau centre aquatique  est conçu comme une grande halle qui couvre l‘ensemble du bâtiment. Cette halle est  une coque en bois légère sans retombée intermédiaire percée d’oculus dont la position permet de contrôler le niveau d’éclairement sur chaque bassin.   

La toiture est l’élément clé de ce projet, elle est conçue comme une peau « vivante » de grande performance, qui contrôle les ambiances à l’intérieur du bâtiment:

-Elle baigne de lumière naturelle la halle des bassins et le centre de sport. En fin de journée, des lampes installées sur les cotés des oculus et contrôlées par des cellules photosensibles compensent progressivement le manque de lumière naturelle.

Les oculus sont tous orientés vers le Nord, permettant de capturer une lumière indirecte, d’intensité stable qui évite tout reflet sur les bassins.

Elle ventile le bâtiment de manière passive grâce à un système d’ouverture automatique relié à la Gestion Technique du bâtiment. La forme des oculus en toiture est conçue aussi pour augmenter l’effet Venturi et donc la ventilation naturelle..."