Site specific: a healthcare centre in France is anchored in local vernacular
Parisian architecture firm Samuel Delmas has created a vernacularly inspired building that aims to provide good architectural reason and healthcare service to keep people from escaping this predominantly rural part of France. Nozay is a town 26 km southwest from Paris, famous for its blue stone but endemic to a condition happening across Europe - the depopulation of the countryside.
Sitting on a gently sloping hill, the town's new healthcare centre has privileged views over Nozay and its traditional gabled roof homes. The architects reinterpreted these and designed a playful roofscape consisting of seven zinc pyramid-like wells that diffuse soft light into the offices and consultation rooms below, as well as providing natural ventilation.
The environmental approach continues in the building's outer skin: grey vertical zinc fins function as sun shading devices, while providing a natural yet modern aesthetic to the building. The facade is punctuated by large double height aluminium openings, or loggias, strategically positioned in order to frame views from interior spaces.
The dark envelope - referencing the local blue stone - contrasts with white interiors, inspiring a clean and healthy environment. Healthcare, administration and visitor spaces are arranged around two interior courtyards that serve as way-finding tools on both levels. These enhance the spaces with natural light and a closer relation with nature, an atmosphere favourable to healing and positive thinking.
The parking lot is located on the lower level of the building, partly sunken into the landscape and clad in blue stone - as if to ground the building further into the local vernacular. The architects carefully sculpted the surrounding terrain into a natural public space by introducing plants, trees, and stone-paved walking paths.
Delmas' project perfectly blends in to the town's skyline and firmly anchors itself to the landscape. Nozéens have a reason to gloat at their town's welcome latest architectural addition.
INFORMATION
For more information on Samuel Delmas visit their website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
‘Between punk and leather daddy’: Hannah Martin introduces her tenth jewellery collection
Hannah Martin's new jewellery collection, 'The Perfect Drug,' cuts sensual silhouettes
By Hannah Silver Published
-
First look: Lee Ufan creates a minimalist perfume bottle for Guerlain
Lee Ufan has reimagined an archival Guerlain perfume bottle to house the new scent ‘Souvenir d’Orchidée’
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi almost become lovers in Luca Guadagnino’s Chanel No.5 campaign: watch the film
Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi front the new Chanel No.5 campaign in a film directed by Luca Guadagnino and soundtracked by Daft Punk
By Hannah Tindle Published
-
A transformed chalet by Studio Razavi redesigns an existing structure into a well-crafted Alpine retreat
This overhauled chalet in the French Alps blends traditional forms with a highly bespoke interior
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
La Grande Motte: touring the 20th-century modernist dream of a French paradise resort
La 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
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain unveils plans for new Jean Nouvel building
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has plans for a new building in Paris, working with architect Jean Nouvel
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Discover Tempe à Pailla, a lesser-known Eileen Gray gem nestled in the French Riviera
Tempe 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
By Tianna Williams Published
-
At Lee Ufan Arles, tension and calm guide relationships between space and art
Lee Ufan Arles opens in the south of France, a collaboration between the famed Korean artist and Japanese architect Tadao Ando
By Amah-Rose Mcknight Abrams Published
-
A new era: Centre Pompidou architects discuss their bold 2030 plans
Plans for the Centre Pompidou 2030 vision were recently announced, revealing a design refresh of the iconic Paris structure; we caught up with its lead architects Moreau Kusunoki to hear more
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
The Grand Paris Express, Europe’s largest urban design project, is en route to success
The Grand Paris Express is a system of new rapid transit lines across the French capital, with each station designed by a different architect – and it's currently under construction
By Amy Serafin Published
-
The Fondation Maeght in Provence digs deep for a spectacular gallery expansion
The Fondation Maeght, the first private art institution, turns 60 this year and celebrates with a glamorous extension to its Provence home
By Amy Serafin Published