bonnard wœffray architects

Description

This facility, a residential, occupational and healthcare centre for persons with psychological, somatic or social issues, or issues arising from an addiction, aims to offer its clients a contained, structured environment while they prepare for their reintegration into the community.  

 

Located amongst the orchards in the Rhone Valley, the new facility is anchored in the rural structure of the locality. The ground floor houses the common functions on either side of a central patio, around which the reception/meeting, dining and recreational spaces are arranged. The south wing contains the administrative offices and the healthcare and stewardship functions, while the north wing houses the occupational workshops. The residential spaces are on the upper floors – arranged horizontally for persons with urgent social needs and short-stay residents, and vertically for the three long-stay apartments. The residential units function like large autonomous apartments with bedrooms and an open-plan kitchen. A rigorous selection of materials dominates the interior: visible concrete walls, smoothed asphalt floors and metallic false ceilings featuring large ribs. The use of laminated pine panels for the false ceilings and wall cladding imbues the apartments with a domestic atmosphere, while tinted glazing brings coloured light into the common spaces. The deep ribbing of the cladding and its copper hue lend the facility an identity all its own. The use of an industrial metal is a nod to the fruit hangar in the valley.