La capitainerie de Calais | Atelier 9.81

As France's leading port for passenger traffic and a major cargo port, Calais is benefiting from a strong increase in activity. In order to respond to the constraints induced by this increase, as well as by the size of the new generation of ships, an ambitious plan to extend the port has been launched: Port Calais 2015. This new port is made up of a vast basin, protected by a 3.2 km long dyke, with a new esplanade supporting multiple services.

A major reception point, a real entrance to the city, the port and all its facilities constitute the first contact with the city of Calais. As such, the qualities of reception and image are of particular importance.

It is in this context that the new harbour master's office is being built, at the junction of the existing port and its extension, whose lookout is 38 metres high. This essential maritime traffic management structure acquires a status that goes far beyond its functional role. Visible from the sea as much as from the town and the beaches, it is the sign and symbol of a port in full expansion, and asserts itself as an emblem for a town in movement.

It is the history of the rich and diverse heritage of the port city of Calais that we choose to highlight.

Two devices are implemented:

-The first, formal, consists in the visual fragmentation of the building.

Each volume, through its relative autonomy, can thus become the support of a specific narrative. Like pebbles balanced one on top of the other, this work is built up by accumulation, by stratification of narratives contained in simple geometric forms.

-The second device consists in assigning a texture, a materiality to each of them in order to reinforce their expressive and narrative capacity. The economic, maritime and geological heritage of Calais is called upon.

Each volume of the harbour master's office thus asserts itself as a witness to a territory, to its history.

[FR]

Premier port français pour le trafic de voyageurs et important port de marchandise, Calais profite d’une activité en forte hausse. C’est dans ce contexte que s’érige la nouvelle capitainerie, à l’articulation du port existant et de son extension, dont la vigie culmine à 38 mètres.

Cet indispensable ouvrage de gestion du trafic maritime acquiert ici un statut qui dépasse largement ce rôle fonctionnel. Visible depuis la mer tout autant que depuis la ville et les plages, elle est le signe et le symbole d’un port en pleine expansion, et s’affirme tel un emblème pour une ville en mouvement.

Nous avons pris le parti d’une fragmentation visuelle du programme.

A l’instar de galets posés en équilibre les uns sur les autres, cet ouvrage s’érige par accumulation, par stratification de récits contenus dans des formes géométriques simples. Chaque volume devient ainsi un support de narration et se voit affecter une texture, une matérialité.

Lead Architects: Cédric Michel, Geoffrey Galand, Jéssica Malhaprez, Jules Labbaye, Cerise Sansonetti

Photography: Nicolas da Silva Lucas

Website: https://www.nicolasdasilvalucas.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/nicolasdasilvalucas/