Location

Lille (59)

 

Architect

BRENAC & GONZALEZ (Paris)

 

Product

Expanded-metal panel with pre-assembled mounting brackets

Mesh

AFR-Lucerna (E150 x 55 x 21.5 x 1.5)

Material and finish

Natural-tone anodized aluminum

 

Date

2014

 

Category

CEILING

 

About this project

Acoustic ceiling: Expanded metal panels are suspended and fastened with point brackets. The absence of any real framework and the connections with reconstituted mesh make for a very harmonious rendering of the acoustic ceiling.

 

Photos : Laurent Ghesquière

 

CNFPT: Project by architects Brénac et Gonzalez (http://brenac-gonzalez.fr/projet/c-n-f-p-t/)

“Located in the Euralille 2 district, the CNFPT is a training center for civil servants.

The building extends over a length of 100 meters, giving a distinctive silhouette to its “camel's back” volumetry, which translates the programmatic variations. Its interior develops a principle of “micro-urbanity”, of “serving and served” spaces marked by the presence of a large double-height central gallery that distributes all the classrooms.

This functional logic is also reflected in the architectural opposition between the north and south facades. The first, along boulevard Paul-Painlevé, houses the main gallery, with abstract, sculptural architecture in the style of a work by Eduardo Chillida. The second, to the south, is almost domestic in style, with spindly balconies adorned with climbing plants.

These exteriors are used as lively social spaces between the courtyards. The overhangs provide protection from the sun in summer and promote solar gain in winter.

On the west side, the forecourt extends into the hall, its canopy and figurehead reinforcing the building's visibility and entrance.
Unity is restored by the use of small-wave expanded metal, used as exterior cladding, wall cladding and acoustic false ceiling in the main gallery. Expanded metal is a sensitive and reactive material, playing with the silvery light so particular to the North.