SOCIO-CULTURAL COMPLEX | Jean-Pierre Lott Architecte

In the town center of Cergy-Pontoise, the project resides in the extension and restructuring of the Le Douze cultural complex, whose symbol is an observatory that inspired the name of the building.
Located on a major artery linking the train station to the monumental housing estate designed by Ricardo Bofill in the 1980s, the building reflects its time without rejecting the district's post-modern past.
The project is integrated into the characteristics of the town of Cergy-Pontoise, namely in its use of white brick. The new, clean lines of the building create a bearing point and the meeting place that the town was expecting.
The mixed-use building contains a large theater with 1,600 seats, a music conservatory, and a community center.
The project consists of a grand atrium, built in the restructured part of the facility, that provides access to all the other parts of the project. The observatory was demolished, making way for thin, vertical towers that make this facility a bearing point on the square.

Photography: Takuji Shimmura

Website: https://takuji-shimmura.fr/