In the quiet town of Pontoise, 30km from Paris, Ateliers O-S Architectes has completed a community centre and nursery designed to fall into step with its sleepy suburban setting. Its low-rise, light-coloured volumes absorb strolling citizens from casual pieces of park-land and quiet clusters of houses.
To reach the form of the building, the architects arranged a series of gradually shifting volumes together – making sure the whole reflected the massing of the surrounding architecture, and had an approachable entrance defined by the façade. A ‘curve’ opens up the entrance to the nursery, while a ‘pleat’ parts to reveal the main hall of the community centre.
The smooth design carefully hides two adjoining structures (the community centre and the nursery) beneath one roof. The two buildings have very separate functions: the community centre features multipurpose spaces for all generations, while the nursery holds 45 cradles. A series of inner courtyards and void separate the two functions internally, yet also weave them together through light and visual connections.
Subtle design elements create a conversation between the surrounding community, the building, and its interiors. The sandy colour of the stone, refined with zinc and brass detailing, was also chosen to reflect the colours of the neighbouring buildings. Patterned mashrabiyas further soften the façade, while revealing views into the interior, and the exterior lines of the building level up with the public gardens beyond.
INFORMATION
-
Highlights from the transporting Cruise 2026 showsThe Cruise 2026 season began yesterday with a Chanel show at Lake Como, heralding the start of a series of jet-setting, destination runway shows from fashion’s biggest houses
-
Behind the design of national pavilions in Venice: three studios to knowDesigning the British, Swiss and Mexican national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 are three outstanding studios to know before you go
-
Premium patisserie Naya is Mayfair’s latest sweet spotHeritage meets opulence at Naya bakery in Mayfair, London. With interiors by India Hicks and Anna Goulandris, the patisserie looks good enough to eat
-
Stay in a Parisian apartment which artfully balances minimalism and warmthTour this pied-a-terre in the 7th arrondissement, designed by Valeriane Lazard
-
Marta Pan and André Wogenscky's legacy is alive through their modernist home in FranceFondation Marta Pan – André Wogenscky: how a creative couple’s sculptural masterpiece in France keeps its authors’ legacy alive
-
Paris’ architecturally fascinating Villejuif-Gustave Roussy metro station is now openVillejuif-Gustave Roussy is part of the new Grand Paris Express, a transport network that will raise the architectural profile of the Paris suburbs
-
Explore wood architecture, Paris' new timber tower and how to make sustainable construction look ‘iconic’A new timber tower brings wood architecture into sharp focus in Paris and highlights ways to craft buildings that are both sustainable and look great: we spoke to project architects LAN, and explore the genre through further examples
-
A transformed chalet by Studio Razavi redesigns an existing structure into a well-crafted Alpine retreatThis overhauled chalet in the French Alps blends traditional forms with a highly bespoke interior
-
La Grande Motte: touring the 20th-century modernist dream of a French paradise resortLa Grande Motte and its utopian modernist dreams, as seen through the lens of photographers Laurent Kronental and Charly Broyez, who spectacularly captured the 20th-century resort community in the south of France
-
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain unveils plans for new Jean Nouvel buildingFondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has plans for a new building in Paris, working with architect Jean Nouvel
-
Discover Tempe à Pailla, a lesser-known Eileen Gray gem nestled in the French RivieraTempe à Pailla is a modernist villa in the French Riviera brimming with history, originally designed by architect Eileen Gray and extended by late British painter Graham Sutherland
