0222 Beaumont Eurorennes, Rennes, FR
Atelier Kempe Thill has recently won the European Competition for the construction of a mixed – use complex at Rennes Central Station in France. The project-site is located on a territory along the train tracks next to the Rennes main station and forms part of the EuroRennes development. The Beaumont site forms part of the master plan by the Parisian office FGP by Philippe Gazeau and Louis Paillard and Agence Ter. The program contains approximately 25.000 m2 of development for offices, retail, housing and an underground parking garage.
The built volume is divided into a one-storey high plinth of mainly retail and entrance spaces for the offices and the apartments. On top of this plinth there are three volumes to be situated: two offices buildings and a housing tower. One of the main challenges of the project is to achieve within the high programmatic and volumetric density the wished urban porosity, good views and as much sunlight as possible for all spaces. The buildings are therefore thinned towards the edges of the plot in order to widen the spaces between the buildings towards outside.
The concept of the façade takes the rationalist poetry of the Rennes – based late modernist architect Georges Maillol as point of departure. The façades are set up in a grid of prefabricated concrete columns and beams with large aluminum windows in between. Office buildings and housing are treated in a similar way to form on coherent ensemble that reflects the scale of the zone along the railway tracks.
0222 Beaumont Eurorennes
Project
mix-use complex at Rennes Central Station
Co-designers
architecture office Atelier56S, Rennes, France
Status
invited competition, first prize
Client
Legendre Immobilier, Rennes, France