Designed by Gardera-D Architecture + Atelier Philippe Pastre, The project AZALA, delivered in June 2015 in association with the architecture agency Philippe Pastre, takes place on a site of 1900 m2 in Biarritz, France.
With 1900 m2, and encircled by roads, the site adopts a very particular form of a drop of water, as a result of the urban layout surrounding it. Located on the edge of an intercommunal highway, strategically positioned at a crossroads, it constitutes a true entrance of the city, leading to the future Joint Development Area of Kleber in Biarritz.
The project brings all together, in a semi-buried 52-seat car park, several entities with a tertiary vocation:
– A notarial study
– An accounting firm and a dentist’s office
– A medical consultation and a public spa.
The shape of the building is a reflection of its environment, the polygonal building does not have a «frontal» facade but a chain of façades forming a cocoon in a response of the aggressivity of the roads surrounding the site.
A fishnet skin envelops the entire building. This mesh unifies and protects the building and gives it a striking presence day and night. It also offers the functions of Venetian blind and breeze view.
Indoors, specific atmospheres, in harmony with the uses, have been developed while maintaining the will of a unity of the whole architectural project.
© Mathieu Choiselat
On the outside, the proposal is to make a singular landscape, a global atmosphere of the site, which is adapted to the strong and rather sculptural presence of the building.
The meaning of the project lies in the different means used to deform the typical surrounding landscape, tending towards a more poetic, a more singular dimension, in relation with the architectural project and the characteristics of each of the external spaces around it.
© Mathieu Choiselat
Project Info:
Architects: Gardera-D Architecture, Atelier Philippe Pastre
Location: 64200 Biarritz, France
Area: 1900.0 m2
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Mathieu Choiselat
Manufacturers: RAICO, Decospan, Armourcoat
Project Name: Azala
