Bonnard & Wœffray architectes: Foyer für hirnverletzte Menschen, Sion - best architects 13

Bonnard & Wœffray architectes

Foyer für hirnverletzte Menschen, Sion

best architects 13

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Place

Monthey

Studio

www.bwarch.ch

Photos

Roland Halbe

Description

The building is designed to offer people who have suffered brain injuries a new home. The triangular site, bounded on the north by a busy ring road, prescribes the form and orientation of the building volume, which presents a closed face to the loud street and turns instead toward a private garden with a view of the castles that dominate Sion’s cityscape. On the ground floor are common areas, offices and workshops. The three upper storeys each display the same floor plan, with a residential group on each floor sharing nine rooms and a communal area. The design plays variations on contrasts between different textures and colours. The concrete has in some cases been left visible, while elsewhere it is covered in natural plywood panelling. The building shell consists of a concrete structure with earthquake-proof dimensions and an exterior layer of thermal insulation which is in turn clad in a metallic skin. In the course of the day the light changes continually, caressing the facade, which at night becomes transparent in different places, thus revealing the inner life of the house.