At the heart of the Parc des Célestins, the project for the new community hall is rooted in an existing clearing, a pivotal space between the protected woods and the wide open meadows. The intervention is intended to be discreet, guided by the principle of “returning to nature what was borrowed,” working in harmony with the topography, views, and ecological continuities of the park.
The building is conceived as an extraction from the landscape, a volume emerging from the ground itself: the “removal” described in the brief takes the form of a shaped terrain that generates the architecture and gently integrates the project into the slope.
This sunken placement preserves the perception of the clearing while opening the hall widely to the surrounding landscape. The landscape treatment accompanies every architectural gesture: green roofs extend the meadow and mitigate the built impact by restoring the natural surface that was temporarily removed. The immediate surroundings are designed as a seamless transition between the woods and the clearing, where paths and terraces act as sensitive connectors between interior and exterior. The architecture thus becomes a framework for the landscape: it frames views, accommodates uses, and highlights the park’s vegetative continuity.
Through its topographical anchoring, economy of means, and material restraint, the project establishes a respectful dialogue with the Parc des Célestins, offering a community hall that both recedes into and celebrates the natural strength of its setting.