과거 선업지구였던 프랑스 서부 앙굴렘 지역에 위치한 알파 미디어 도서관은 이 지역 사람들의 사회 문화적 삶을 증진시키는 역할을 하고 있다. 스칸디나비아풍 모델에서 영감을 얻은 이 건물은 문화적 공간의 신세대적 콘크리트 증거품과 같은 의미를 지니며, 서로 소통하고 배우고 휴식을 취할 수 있는 곳이 되고 있다.
중립적이면서도 모두에게 오픈된 이러한 공간 타입은 사교문화적인 차이를 없애고 대중과 개인 사이 또는 대중과 개인 사이의 경계를 무너뜨리기 위한 공간의 타입을 찾고자 했다. 그 결과 건물은 다수의 면을 가지게 되었고, 이는 "관점의 부상"이라는 의미 아래 앙굴램 지역의 주요한 랜드마크가 되었다.
Built on the site of a former industrial area in the north-east of Angoulême, the Alpha media library delivered by loci anima brings added value to the Houmeau district, which is being radically overhauled, improving the social and cultural life of people in this area.
Inspired by the Scandinavian model, this building is concrete evidence of a new generation of cultural spaces where citizens are able to meet, to exchange, to learn, to relax.
Program: media library
Architects: loci anima
Project director: Jonathan Thornhill
Project manager: Xavier Maunoury
Client: Community of Greater Angoulême Agglomeration
Construction manager: Marine Bichot
Structural and HVAC engineers: Grontmij
Facade engineers: Van Santen & Associés
Environmental engineers: Alto
Landscape architect: Exit
Acoustic engineers: Avel
Security engineers: Casso & associés
Quantity surveyor & siteworks direction: Grontmij
Building controler: Alpes Controle
Site coordination: Ouest Coordination
Site security: Socotec
Environmental consultant: Addenda
Area: 5,241 sqm
Cost: 13,8 M€
Neutral and open to all, making no distinction in terms of age, this type of space seeks to erase socio-cultural differences and blur the boundaries between the public and the private, the collective and the individual.
The result is a building with multiple facades, a “rose of views”, facing the important landmarks of Angoulême and that face each other from the earth and from the sky. Made up of five coloured parallelepipeds, cleverly stacked one on top of the other, the media library, viewed from the highpoint of the city, forms an A for Alpha and for Angoulême.
Each of these five “worlds” which make up the edifice is scalable and identifiable by the colour-material of the metal of the celestial body that is associated with it.
Connotations of the imaginary world of childhood are also seen in the design and the furniture which is geometrical, fun and functional, responding to the different uses that the media library offers. Wooden frames around individual desks isolate the reader in an atmosphere that lends itself to concentration that at the same time, opens a window to the outside. Massive naturally lit tables encourage exchanges during group work. Indoor and outdoor seats are in the shape of extra-large objects, for example a safety pin or a peg, providing seating that is fun, friendly and modulable.
The architect has freed up the space under the ceiling in the entrance hall by placing the large East staircase in levitation, creating, as soon as one enters the building, a space that each individual can colonise and own. Additionally, the spaces are extended outside with terraces or gardens, for indoor/outdoor living, to make the most of natural light everywhere and to open up or close off the spaces depending on the heat levels and mount of light necessary or desired.
from domusweb