Revelation
« A new community space steeped in spirituality »
Giving built form to an association’s aspirations through new spaces that are at once functional and harmonious.
Driven by an association with a philosophical and spiritual purpose, Revelation takes root on a 3,000 m² plot in the Paris basin. The challenge of this public-access building (ERP) lay in a double integration: inserting a complex programme within an existing and relatively old residential fabric, while embodying the deep spiritual aspirations of the clients.
The proposed building is organised around a double-height nave — a true backbone flooded with overhead light — and a central atrium opening onto the gardens that acts as the symbolic knot of the place. Grafted onto it is a flexible hall in solid Saint-Maximin stone, in dialogue with a timber roof structure and a patinated-zinc cladding that quietly reinterprets the roofs of the Île-de-France. Carried through to an advanced stage of technical development, the project mobilises the full breadth of my dual culture: structural sizing, energy modelling and life-cycle assessment (LCA) support a noble, pared-back aesthetic. Each material answers at once a search for an atmosphere conducive to introspection and strict requirements of thermal, acoustic and financial feasibility.
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Ground-floor plan, distinguishing existing (grey) from project (blue)
This ground-floor plan distinguishes the project from the retained existing parts. The clients' overall plot includes several adjoining houses and extensions at the rear of the gardens. Amid this disparate fabric, I insert a nave that serves both the existing and the newly created spaces. To the south of the plot, the nave serves a multipurpose hall laterally, whose thicker poché is due to the solid structural stone used.
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First-floor plan, distinguishing existing (grey) from project (blue)
This first-floor plan distinguishes the nave's functional spaces, on the right, from the double-height circulation spaces on the left. A footbridge links the two wings at the central atrium, which opens to the west and east onto the existing gardens.
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Longitudinal section through the right-hand part of the nave
This section along the length of the nave shows its east side, which gathers the collective functions. On the left, the north wing holds the shared common room and the toilets on the ground floor, with the open coworking space above. On the other side of the atrium are the foyer in front of the multipurpose hall on the ground floor, and above it the large meeting room, which enjoys a balcony.
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Longitudinal section through the left-hand part of the nave
This second section along the length of the nave shows its west side — the double-height circulation space — and in particular reveals the placement of the glazed roof openings.
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Cross-section through the atrium
This cross-section through the atrium shows the dialogue between the existing and the project, and also reveals the new façade of the extension created in front of the existing house at the east/right end of the plot.
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Footbridge above the atrium
This view illustrates the theatrical lighting effects created by the timber-batten screen, producing an ethereal, gentle atmosphere within the atrium.
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Atrium seen from the east gardens
Here we see the atrium, with its operable openings near the ridge to avoid overheating in summer. We are alongside the multipurpose hall, on the east side of the plot.
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Atrium seen from the entrance of the nave's south wing
Taken from the south-wing entrance with the camera facing north, this view better conveys the whole of the atrium space — its sliding panels at ground level, its batten system above, and the footbridge that crosses it.
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View of the nave's north wing — camera facing north
We are here beneath the footbridge that leads from the first-floor terrace to the coworking space. The doors on the right give access to the toilets, while the door at the far end opens onto the garden in front of the street.
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Atrium from the west gardens at dusk
Vertical spotlights set between the translucent cladding and the inner batten structure create a theatrical staging once night falls. The atrium is made of two rows of bays that take up the post-and-rafter frame forming the nave's primary structure.
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View of the atrium and its system for filtering overhead light
This view shows the timber-batten system chosen to form a screen that reduces direct solar gain in the atrium. It also reveals the footbridge, whose metallic appearance contrasts with the omnipresence of timber and corrugated PVC panels.
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Coworking spaces — camera facing south
Taken from the street-side lift to the north of the project, this view shows the layout of the coworking space. On the right are the access stair and the short footbridge leading to the existing terrace. Roof openings bring overhead light that cannot be admitted laterally through the blind walls. Structurally, the nave is made of trusses repeated at regular intervals, braced by a system of purlins and rigid panels.
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View of the coworking space — camera facing north
Another view of the coworking space, this time from the other side with the camera facing north. At the far end is the lift core, with the façade of the existing house to the left seen through the glazed roof openings.
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View of the meeting room
We are here in the meeting room suspended above the foyer in the south wing. The room is deliberately spacious and bright, thanks to openings to the east and west that capture natural light throughout the day.
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Shared kitchen and dining hall
This intimate view shows the renovated kitchen/dining space within the north wing, near the entrance door. The language is warm and welcoming, with warm tones that recall the vocation of the place.
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Nave and multipurpose hall — south façade
We are here at the rear of the plot, in the more densely planted gardens. The volume of the nave ends in an extra bay on the outside, forming a covered porch. To the right is the volume of the multipurpose hall with its monopitch roof. A walkway joins the two volumes.
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The multipurpose hall along its length
We are here in the multipurpose hall, which can extend to the left onto the foyer — doubling its capacity — by means of pivoting, sliding timber panels mounted on a track. The hall develops a highly mineral materiality, between the travertine floor, the solid Saint-Maximin stone walls and the suspended ceiling finished in lime render.
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View of the multipurpose hall
A glimpse of the multipurpose hall and its evenly spaced vertical windows, seen from the threshold between the hall and the adjoining foyer.