Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. Offices of the Department of Haute-Garonne, Tolouse, France
Project type
The central part of the western wing curves outward to form a semi-circle, so that the space between the blocks widens out to create a square.
The diagonal alignment allows the complex to open up and create a pedestrian path connecting avenue Serres with Centre Compans Caffarelli to the southwest.
For security reasons the path is open to the public during office hours only.
The points at which the blocks are connected vertically reduce the view along the axis to a low opening at the height of the ground floor. These bridges, given a particularly massive appearance by mirror glass, recall the heavy blades of a guillotine.
The idea of leaving the boundaries of the area free turned out to be an appropriate response to the challenge of the project: the need to integrate the department's administrative offices into a residential neighbourhood without damaging it.
The sixth and last floor of the building has an uninterrupted glass façade, while the second to last floor is covered with light sandstone, so that the brightly coloured brick part creates the impression that the building is only four floors high.
The construction fits into the area's architectural context perfectly: for example, the Conseil Général room, which juts out of the eastern block, marks the end of Rue Casanova, with its entrance forming a viewpoint along this isolated side street.
It is precisely the interruption between the front of the building and the boundary of the project area that harmonises its proportions.
In building the main façade, Venturi draws on a morphological situation frequently found in old Tolouse, characterised by an extensive street grid. The building's true façade, just like its entrance, is far away from the square, on the adjacent road. The volumes of the boundaries of the complex are moved back to avoid the contrast in proportions that any passer-by might notice.
The garden surrounding the building contributes a visual wealth that prevents any monotony; along "Canal du Midi", two rows of plane-trees simply duplicate the trees along the riverbank.
But the area facing the meeting room and avenue Serres is an imposing public garden.
The high wall surrounding the garden, built out of the same materials as the building, marks the boundary of the project area, preventing the complex from blending into the road space. Venturi and Scott Brown do not seek middle ground, but tension-filled extremes: the small and the large.
Two columns in front of the building's entrance refer to another pair of columns once located in the area near the building. Mediation of universal motifs through local tradition is even more evident in the allusion to the big drum, to be interpreted as an echo of the city's Baroque town hall.
The town hall may also have provided the inspiration for walls made of stripes of brick and sandstone, or the uniform base of grey granite. The flat façades with their large aluminium windows packed close together in rows convey the structure's technological modernity.
Venturi considers it important to give the observer the pleasure of discovering something new each time, through elaborating on motifs which are made recognisable by their latent familiarity.
Floriana De Rosa
Link: http://www.vsba.com/projects/index.html
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