CULTURAL CENTRE IN BORDEAUX CENON -

BORDEAUX

As a generator of cultural and artistic activity on the Garonne Heights, the Cultural Center in the Palmer City Park proposes a remarkable integration between performance and landscape. The project started with the unprecedented quality of the location for a major public facility, tucked inside a unique parcel of landscape and topography that defines la Garronne. The facility is designed to accommodate 2,000 spectators and the largest of national and international tournaments. The project’s challenge is to create an “extroverted” architecture that opens onto the park while both protecting and deferring to the natural quality of the site. The project must simultaneously respect the landscaped park while bringing identity and visibility to Cenon’s cultural ambitions. The pleated hulls of its three performance volumes are sheltered by an outer shell of perforated steel. Their dimensions and geometries, designed for the greatest comfort of spectators and artists, settle into the topography of the park like a cluster of rocks on a gentle slope. Superimposed on the three volumes, the avenues of circulation are identified by glass panels.