Cultural Centre in Venarey

In a small village in Burgundy, next to the railroad, a massive volume seems to float above an almost transparent plinth. It is Dominique Coulon’s project for an Art Centre that is also a tourist office, a conference hall, a day nursery, and areas for older people.

Dominique Coulon & associés, Art and Conference Centre, Inter-Generation Centre and Tourist Office, in Venarey-Les Laumes, France
Dominque Coulon’s project stretches alongside the railway line in the small village of Venarey-Les Laumes, in Burgundy.
The building, designated a centre for rural excellence, contains a number of different initiatives, including a tourist office, a conference and culture hall, a day nursery, and areas for older people. The task was to bring all these very different initiatives together in a single dynamic unit.
Dominique Coulon & associés, Art and Conference Centre, Inter-Generation Centre and Tourist Office, in Venarey-Les Laumes, France
Dominique Coulon & associés, Art and Conference Centre, Inter-Generation Centre and Tourist Office, Venarey-Les Laumes, France

The upper volume seems to float above an almost transparent plinth. Cantilevers accentuate the dissociation of the various folds, each fold producing a face which captures the low-angled light produced by the orientation of the building. The lightly perforated opaque skin is divided into a number of triangles – some are matte while others are shiny –, thereby breaking down the structure of the basic volumes.

The building often has a different appearance at different times of day. The day nursery is located upstairs, while the other initiatives are at ground level. A bright yellow courtyard continues the line of the areas used by the nursery, the purpose being to shield them from the substantial nuisance caused by the goods trains and high-speed passenger trains which pass at speed here. The transparent features of the ground floor are arranged in such a way that the relationship with the railway line is constant, and perceived as a dynamic event.


Art and Conference Centre, Inter-Generation Centre and Tourist Office, Venarey-Les Laumes, France
Program: public building
Architects: Dominique Coulon & associés (Dominique Coulon, Steve Letho Duclos)
Project Team: Guillaume Wittmann, Gautier Duthoit
Construction site supervision: Lionel Debs
Structural Engineer: Batiserf
Electrical Engineer: BET G.Jost
Mechanical Plumbing Engineer: Solares Bauen
Quantity surveyor: E3 économie
Acoustics: Euro sound project
Scenographer: Euro sound project
Cost: 3 600 000€ H.T
Area: 1,646 sqm
Completion: March 2015

A prize for architecture between lights and volumes: LFA Award

An international photography competition that invites photographers worldwide to capture the essence of contemporary architecture. Inspired by the work of the famous Portuguese photographer Luis Ferreira Alves, the award seeks images that explore the dialogue between man and space.

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