Nîmes Sports Hall / Ateliers A+

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At the end of the competition, when night falls, the Hall celebrates the victory of sport. At night, its fabric lights up like a constellation. A luminous fabric sail, a sky lantern, a magical vessel with inflated glittering sails at night, this architecture is a party that lasts. A place of hope and victory.Text description provided by the architects.This new Sports Hall, a project that is emblematic, sustainable, and perfectly integrated into the site, accommodates all spatial requirements linked to each sport under one banner. Ateliers A+ wished to carry out a clear project with simple operations and evident access, with the ambition of creating a place of community, friendliness, and integration from this new public equipment.The style is organic and gentle and gives structure to the public space. The design is inventive, it is inspired by Nîmes's rich textile history. The harmonization of volumes and the use of the curve on the façade in the image of a sheet of fabric is not random. Beyond the guiding lines and rectangular shapes of the site plan, the curve naturally directs and invites users to enter the building. Here and there, the folds of the fabric reveal vegetation which brings lightness and forms a protection. The architecture is strongly contemporary, the volumes worked on to flee the building's functional expression in favor of the symbolic act, a strong signature for a recognized sporty complex. This modernity values both the city and athletes, it presents and gives you desire.The project seriously takes the building's environment into account. The establishment and organization of the complex are the results of an urban reflection combined with a bioclimatic approach. All the indoor spaces are marked by the omnipresence of the wood. With a mesh structure, a crossed solid beam structure, a false ceiling, acoustic wall facing, and interior joinery. The wood warms the indoor atmosphere and displays the construction's low carbon commitment in a strong visual symbol. The energy strategy occurs underground with the geothermal installation under the building, on the roof with the photovoltaic installation, and in the plant rooms, is discretely integrated into the façades with its openings which authorize the nocturnal hyperventilation and is also demonstrated with the smart juxtaposition of materials with strong thermal inertia at ground level.