Victoire Marne Campus
Bordeaux
Transformation of the former School of dentistry
into a student centre
Ivan Mathie
As the successor to the School of Dentistry, which occupied these premises for some sixty years, the new programme will play a more general role in the university’s life, housing all the cultural and recreational programmes for the entire city-centre campus: a 400-seat amphitheatre for acoustic performances worthy of a full-fledged performance hall, a multimedia library, gym spaces, rooms for student organisations, and a recreation room for socialising.
Sitting along the Cours de la Marne, one of Bordeaux’s major thoroughfares, and the Rue Elie Gintrac, the project will include a public passageway from one street to the other, in the spirit of the public vocation of this university campus programme. The path through this landscaped block provides a respite from the density and activity of the streets leading to the Place de la Victoire.
Plan
We sought to reuse the existing structure to the maximum, from the macro to the micro. We preserved the building along the Rue Elie Gintrac and we reused the facing stones, thereby exceeding the client adviser’s expectations.
The delicately arranged “inner street” crossing the block serves as a reception area and gathering place for students.
