Construction of a central library in Les Herbiers

11.07.2023

Deshoulières Jeanneau has won the competition to build the Pays des Herbiers Library

We are proud to announce that we have won the competition to build the new library for the Pays des Herbiers. Unanimously approved by the Municipal Council, this project will give the young people and families in this federation of municipalities a brand-new facility, starting in 2026. Our approach to the architecture and the urban planning consists of working with what is already there in terms of existing structures, all the while seeking to design a building that exceeds its own limits. The concise architectural style serves the quality of the construction; the limited number of materials helps the building integrate into its surrounding fabric and achieve environmental efficiency, while the volumes have been staggered to manage the exposure to sunlight and the views onto the surrounding buildings. The horizontal matrix of lightly coloured concrete echoes the neighbouring homes and provides a sense of delicate refinement to the mass of the elevations, which appear like the overlaid pages of a manuscript. The project is seeking a level 2 biosourced label and a E3C1-level energy-positive carbon-reducing label.

Photo credit: AIR Studio

Client

Communauté de Communes du Pays des Herbiers

Architect

Atelier Cambium

Design team

Sogno architecture (architect in charge of FF&E), Atelier Renan Rousselot (landscape designer), ATES (structural engineering, VRD), YAC (environment, MEP/electrical), ITAC (acoustics), Cabinet Maret (QS)

Image credits

RUA Representing Unbuilt Architecture

Location

Les Herbiers (85), France

Programme

Construction of a library that will include reading spaces for children and youth, a digital centre, book stacks, and a multi-purpose room with a capacity of up to 300 people.

Surface area

1,725 m2

Construction costs

4.7M€ pre-tax

Status

Under construction

Schedule

2023 – 2026

Label Sought

High Environmental Quality, Biosourced Building Level 2 / BEPOS (positive energy building)

As part of its local urban development plan, the Pays des Herbiers federation of municipalities issued a call for tenders in 2023 to build a new library in the city centre on the site of an old movie theatre. The project also comprises the restoration of a neighbouring older house known as “the Lodging”. Our architectural and urban approach consisted of using “what was already there”, all the while seeking to design a building that would radiate beyond its boundaries. The attention to the existing built environment involves factoring in the topography, respecting the surrounding scale of the built environment, and recreating an aligned urban front which helps complete the urban sequence along the rue Neuve. With its mineral quality and by playing with the sense of mass, the project’s style reproduces characteristic traits of vernacular architecture to create a collective social space that is open to the city and which fosters a sense of well-being for its users.

We paid specific attention to the building’s relationship to the adjacent residences and yards to the north and east. The garden creates a buffer between all these buildings and gives readers a beautiful green space within the core of the block that helps restore the site’s natural qualities.

Plan

The library entrance sits along the forecourt on the Place Jeanne d’Arc, as does the Digital Centre that has been created within the Lodging, and which is clearly identified to facilitate its autonomous operation outside the library’s regular opening hours.

Façades and sections

Made using low-carbon forged concrete and alternating solid facades and surfaces predominated by windows, the staggered volumes manage to control the level of sunshine entering the building and attenuate the visual proximity to neighbouring buildings, all the while asserting the strong identity of this new facility.