Thermal Complex in Elsau

Student Name: Victoria Desgagné & Emmanuelle Goyer-Pétrin

School: University of Montréal

Degree Program: BS.Arch 2020

Location of Project: Elsau, France

Year of Project: 2019

Brief Description of Project:

The first steps of the project lie in a study of the relation to materials. The initial research showed the strong impact of textures on the body as well as how the environmental factors can influence the way they are perceived. This observation is reflected by a clash of textures confronting the users with the instability of their bodies; a pleasant opposition between roughness and softness. The site, delimited by old hangars, the A35 highway, a large planted area and the Ill river is marked by a strong contrast between artificial and natural. The complex takes root in its narrowest part, at the height of this tension. The program extends into a long succession of pavilions in which massive concrete walls free up the facades. It creates a strong contrast between the rough, dark corridor and the smooth, bright rooms which expand outwards. In response to questions of intimacy, a metal mesh curtain is installed on the outside of the glazing. Supple and exposed to different environmental factors, it confronts the solid and rigid load-bearing system as a light element punctuating the facade.