Podcast. How the ONF uses wood from French forests for its new headquarters
[ad_1]
It is in Maisons-Alfort, in the Val-de-Marne, south-east of Paris, that the National Forestry Office (ONF) has just installed its new headquarters. Its particularity: a wooden structure that comes mainly from state forests managed by the organization. The 7,600 square meter building, designed by Vincent Lavergne Architecture Urbanisme and Atelier WOA, aims to be ecological and design to accommodate its agents. Is this the only desirable and possible architecture now? Elements of answers in report with the journalist Judith Chétrit and in debate with the critical meeting of the City of Architecture and Heritagealso a partner of this podcast.
The little story. 365 employees for the Ile-de-France headquarters of the National Forestry Office had become too many for a single location. Cramped in an aging tower of 12e arrondissement, forced to extend their offices towards Montreuil, sometimes forced to move from one site to another to find each other, the agents of the organization aspired to gather in the same building and in more phase with today’s society. “We had integrated telework from 2017, at the rate of one or two days a week, relates Jean-Marc Tavernier, director of the real estate project at the ONF. Then there was the Covid, which reinforced this trend. » Suddenly, it was no longer entirely necessary to gain space, rather to change the type of space.
Invited to express their expectations, the members of the various departments then mentioned the wish to benefit from specific facilities – in particular shelters for bicycles and showers –, but above all to work in an environment as natural as possible, and energy efficient. The project for a flexible building was then imposed, with non-partitioned offices where civil servants can take turns, rub shoulders with each other, gather, or even isolate themselves, according to their needs.
Today. The new headquarters of the ONF is located on the grounds of the Veterinary School of Maisons-Alfort, which has granted a lease for a period of seventy years to the State body. And as it is about forest that it is about, wood dominates among the building materials. The trees felled to make room for the foundations have been used in the building. A carpenter has also worked on the very site the trunk of a majestic locust. “Building in wood was an intangible for the NFB, emphasizes Jean-Marc Tavernier, but it costs more than concrete. » This budgetary constraint, valid for any wooden construction, is generally exceeded by the use of imported species. “Here, we have integrated different local species, the main one being spruce in the form of glued laminated timber. The technical floors are in spruce, pine and Douglas fir. Elsewhere we find locust, oak. The door frames are in beech. We therefore have a large number of species that are present in French forests. »
A natural environment that inspired the architect Vincent Lavergne. He imagined a forest path crossing the building, “with large trunks on either side, triple height posts, distributed in a somewhat random way, he explains. The beams that connect them form the branches and this suspended canopy of shingles from all the ONF forests plays both an acoustic role and a light diffusion role.”. “The wood is protected by the metal facade, a light material that acts as bark, watch Samuel Poutoux, from Atelier WOA, but the structure remains visible from the street, especially when night falls and the building lights up. » The ONF has 10,000 agents throughout France and intends to make this new site a showcase for wood construction while saving operating costs and energy.
The opinion of the experts. Occasionally critical meetings of the City of Architecture and Heritage, architects and journalists discussed the new headquarters of the National Forestry Office. A seat that seduced them all. Isabelle Regnier, from World, welcomes the initial desire to create “an ‘anti-tower’ where the unfortunate NFB employees would be less compartmentalised”and recognizes that the goal has been achieved. “There is a whole experimentation there, a prototype and demonstrator side compared to wood, but also a reflection on the typology of offices, observes the journalist. Everything is very scripted: the entrance by what they call “a forest path” which leads into a large atrium on several levels, with small wooden tiles [les tavaillons] on the ceiling which mattify the acoustics. So far, nothing extraordinary, but when you go up to the second floor, you reach the high point of the building: a room on two levels, a gigantic space, both shaded and bright, where trees and nature seem to penetrate. The atmosphere of the place is very inspiring. »
“Wow” : this is what architect and teacher Richard Scoffier inspired by the new NFB headquarters. “I immediately saw an expressionist side to it. He reminds me Fritz Höger’s Chili House »a ten-storey office building in Hamburg, northern Germany, built just a hundred years ago. “Here, of course, we are in a different universe. » And to temper his enthusiasm: “We go from marvel to marvel, and that’s where it’s a bit annoying – and I’m embarrassed to criticize because it’s so difficult to build – but we’re immersed in atmospheres and we don’t understand anything about it. articulation of spaces. »
Sophie Trelcat, a journalist specializing in architecture, did not get lost, on the contrary. “The articulation is extremely pleasant between the open spaces and the closed offices with these large windows and the partitioning with the corridor. We are often served the arguments of flex-office by wanting to hide issues of workplace profitability. Here, for once, it’s succeeded: the workspaces are great. » She note by the way “research on the new wood structure”with “a central pillar and three large offset beams that generate a fan-shaped plan, which contains the free shelves: it is a very interesting Piranesian space”. The architect and journalist Philippe Trétiack rents like her “this luxury of free space”.
“Interesting Arch”
“Interesting Archi” highlights buildings with remarkable architecture and design. In each episode, listen to guided tours and lively debates, produced in partnership with the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine. Find all the episodes here.
“Interesting Archi”, a podcast produced and directed by Joséfa Lopez for The world, in partnership with the City of Architecture and Heritage. Report: Judith Chetrit. Voice-over: Isabelle Regnier. Directed by: Eyeshot. Graphic Identity: Mélina Zerbib, Aurélien Débat. Partnership: Sonia Jouneau, Victoire Bounine.
[ad_2]
Source link
