STADIUM NOTO-LUCCHESI / MARSEILLE
The Noto-Lucchesi Stadium is locate in an unfavoured neighborhood of Marseille (13th) to provide associations and schools a quality and nearby equipment. Its originality lies in the bold proposal to bury the buildings (dressing rooms, cafeteria and housing for the keeper) to guard against deliberate damage (broken windows, intrusion, damage to facades, roofs squatting ...) and offer to this "concrete-asphalt" neighborhood a real landscaping and green space ...
So, two buildings, one of 400m2 and 100m2 (housing for the keeper) are placed under the earth mounds. Locals requiring outwards openings, such as living rooms, bedrooms and cafeteria, as the steel « shells » integrate shutters to protect from intrusion and located on facade.
Program / Resume
- Housing for the keeper (3 bedrooms)
- 4 collective locker-rooms
- 2 referees’ locker-rooms
- 1 cafetaria
- 1 public toilets
Sports facilities :
- Football +mini football courts
- Handball
- Basketball
- Athletics track
- Jumping Area
Other services:
- Parking lot with access for buses
- Rainwater retention (350m3)
- Geothermal Energy Production
Benefits of this intention (buildings placed under the earth mounds) :
- Management on-works of existing soil masses, reducing truck rotations;
- Recycling the existing cloakrooms to compacted rubble on site for the ipreparation of the platforms;
- Financial gain.
Architectural Intention/
The current site was abandoned and was the scene of burned cars and all kind of smugglings. The importance of architectural design seemed so essential and, to « bunker-like" architecture in such neighborhoods where sometimes famous mediated scenes take place, we have preferred a « turtle-like » intervention!
The project borrows a vegetal vocabulary : corten steel as evocation of the earth is combined with green spaces. Five shells as monoliths, are located in the slope to mark entrances and facades of invisible buildings.
The architectural tailored fence creates this vibration of light and shadows that is found on the edge of the forest: the invisible to the visible, to the front and side views.
"Far from separating, it sublimates visual and physical transition between the site and its environment and thus sanctifies the stadium."
So, with the esthetics of this fence, we understand that it was not just to close, to delimit or to erect a barrier between the stadium and the rest of the world :
building conception and architecture means above all creating links.
As well, from a « practical » point of view, the selection of a material such as corten steel is a sustainable choice because it is stable over time, naturally durable and easy to maintain: after sanding (for instance, of a graffiti...), the patina regenerates itself.
Finally, taking advantage of the vast surface of the football court and the Mediterranean climate, production of geothermal energy has become obvious. This system has allowed us to optimize the comfort and ventilation of both buildings, manage hot water needs and implement under floor heating to circumvent the problem of radiators often degraded in public buildings.