Comte & Vollenweider: Business Aviation Centre

The Cannes-Mandelieu Airport is one of the key points in the up-market attraction of the Côte d’Azur.

Improving the services on offer for business aviation in terms of receiving air crews and effective airplane maintenance is vital for air traffic in the Nice Côte d’Azur region. The first phase of this development in the northern zone of the Cannes-Mandelieu Airport must reflect this project’s level of excellence.

The hangars must meet and adapt to user needs. They are tools for serving airplanes, staff and business people. With this in mind we have grouped together the office-space and designed the structure in such a way as to leave the entire volume obstacle-free, thus enabling us to offer total freedom for the planes’ manoeuvring and maintenance.

“We have designed a structure that uses wood materials to best effect. The resulting mesh is covered evenly by a translucent skin. Composed of vibration-creating facets, the hangars’ volumes break down into a multitude of objects rather like shimmering leaves on the trees on nearby Saint Cassien hill or the sun glistening off the sea,” explain the architects. The project is thus embedded in the landscape of the lower Siagne River valley. By day the filtered light provides a subdued Mediterranean atmosphere inside while the sunrays make the envelope shimmer. By night the light from inside the hangars turns them into evanescent volumes presenting the structure’s design in silhouette.

“Our project renders an ensemble that is entirely wood framed, the frame being done in triangulated lattice beams composed of laminated wood abutting onto solid wood. This sheet rests on x-shaped posts as a unitary whole,” continue Comte & Vollenweider. The material’s density is studied so as to create a mesh effect that the light plays through and confers a Mediterranean soul on the work.

Challenged by programming data and architectural specifications, we propose using the programme’s office space to create a skyline linking all the centre’s light aircraft and business aviation hangars. The eastern wall thus becomes a main side facing the future training centre and offices. Hangar 16 measures 12m in height, 96m in length and 36m in width. These dimensions, multiples of 12, make it possible to use various patterns to arrive at the smallest one, i.e. pyramids, the height and width of which are 1.5m.

Business Aviation Centre Cannes-Mandelieu
Client: SA Aéroport Nice-Côte-d’Azur
Project management: Comte & Vollenweider: Pierre-André Comte, Stéphane Vollenweider, Régis Roudil, Marion Grégoire, Marrit Veenstra / Sud Equip Bureau D’études T.C.E.
Overall surface area: 10.250 sqm GFA
Cost: € 15,000,000 escl tax
Aeronautical areas: 6,000 sqm – € 821,000 escl tax
Offices (920 sqm) + Hangar H 16 (3,486 sqm): 4,406 sqm GFA – € 4,362,000 escl tax
Companies:
Roads and utilities infrastructure: Eiffage TP
Earthworks/Special Foundations: Menard
Shell: Triverio
Wood frame: Hess Timber
Sealing: Seri
Exterior curtain wall woodwork: Chiri
Aeronautical doors: Champion Door OY
Electricity: Europelec
Plumbing: Zaffalone
Lifts: Kone
Construction: May 2013 (first phase), December 2014(second phase), 2015 (third phase)
Photos: Luc Boegly