HEAMS & MICHEL Architectes

Description

The port of Cannes is situated between Suquet Hill and the Palais des Festivals. The project’s objective is to offer new services, right on the water, close to the boat users. All the elements of the programme are housed in a volume which has a simple parallelepipedic form and is both perfectly symmetrical and compact in its composition. The main focus of the design was to have a minimal impact on the port environment while offering a wide variety of interior and exterior spaces. The wooden structure sits on a concrete base which spreads across existing stumps. Consisting of only one level, the building perches naturally on top of a submerged box. All technical equipment is concealed inside this submerged space and in the roof space created by the solar panels. The building structure extends along the main wharf and enters into a close relationship with the calm water of the harbour and the landscape in the background. Placed between the interior and the exterior, the «servant spaces» are located along the periphery of the building in line with the façade. Punctuated regularly by posts, the structure is like an anamorphosis of the boundaries of the public space. It unfolds like a light, transparent and ordered matrix. The succession of posts creates a vibration and a subtle rhythm on the dock while the «served spaces», on the other hand, are maintained in a plane with opaque façades. They are covered with a patterned cladding sensitive to the particular variations in light of the marine atmosphere.