Dominique Perrault - APLIX Factory

Dominique Perrault
APLIX Factory
Nantes, Le Cellier 1997-2000
Due for completion Spring of 2000

Photo: Georges Fessy

The factory is meant for the production of "self-gripping systems" and synthetic fiber fabrics. Non-polluting for the environment, this activity is of interest to the community for the number of jobs it will create following its opening. Its potential for development will lend a certain dynamism to the region. On top of that, the design attempts to offer optimum working conditions and to guarantee a flexible integration of future extensions. This project, then, marks the beginning of an industrial change in the community.

We have placed an orthogonal 20 x 20m grid on top of the site, forming a checkerboard of metal .and vegetal surfaces.The composition of the factory itself is the result of the juxtaposition of several 20 x 20m blocks, 7.7 m high. In the initial proposal, the form of the factory is that of a 'long, regularly stepped rectangle. The main facade gives onto the main RN23 road; windowless, it expresses the desire for interiorization linked to the architectural project and to the confidentiality of the activity of production with the strict design of a thin, extended line from which a few treetops protrude.

Photo: Georges Fessy

Running parallel to the RN23, the continuous and fluid space of an interior street which constitutes the building's true backbone allows for the circulation of fork-lift trucks and the intersection of the entire flow of raw materials and finished products. Three 20 x 40 m rectanguIar- based gardens covered with lofty plantations cling to the interior street; the russet bark and bluish foliage of pine trees, which will be 12 meters high at the end of construction work, provide them with a touch of color, while their airy tops allow the refracted light to enter the Interior street. Around these gardens, and for each of the two divisions, the various workshops are organized according to the manufacturing cycle of the product.

The visible material is a slightly burnished metal sheeting. An idealized expression of agricultural buildings, it reflects the surrounding nature and allows the factory to gently blend into it. Each part of the project is conceived so as to enable the envisaging of workshop extensions and parking areas. For that reason, the rigorous conception of the composition's masses and their effects remains subject to variation. Extensions are possible via the aleatory articulation of supplementary squares, which would thus create visual irregularities, notably in the frontal view; for the:. moment, then, there is no definitive configuration of the extensions to the factory, but rather the wish for a game of chance elicited by the metal/vegetal encounter of volumes and reflections.

Dominique Perrault, 1998

Dominique Perrault Kolonihavehus

Dominique Perrault arcspace features





				Features
		Dominique Perrault APLIX Factory Nantes, Le Cellier 1997-2000 Due for completion Spring of 2000 Photo: Georges Fessy The factory is meant for the production of "self-gripping systems" and synthetic fiber fabrics. Non-polluting for the environment, this activity is of interest to the community for the number of jobs it will create following its opening. Its potential for development will lend a certain dynamism to the region. On top of that, the design attempts to offer optimum working conditions and to guarantee a flexible integration of future extensions. This project, then, marks the beginning of an industrial change in the community. We have placed an orthogonal 20 x 20m grid on top of the site, forming a checkerboard of metal .and vegetal surfaces.The composition of the factory itself is the result of the juxtaposition of several 20 x 20m blocks, 7.7 m high. In the initial proposal, the form of the factory is that of a 'long, regularly stepped rectangle. The main facade gives onto the main RN23 road; windowless, it expresses the desire for interiorization linked to the architectural project and to the confidentiality of the activity of production with the strict design of a thin, extended line from which a few treetops protrude. Photo: Georges Fessy Running parallel to the RN23, the continuous and fluid space of an interior street which constitutes the building's true backbone allows for the circulation of fork-lift trucks and the intersection of the entire flow of raw materials and finished products. Three 20 x 40 m rectanguIar- based gardens covered with lofty plantations cling to the interior street; the russet bark and bluish foliage of pine trees, which will be 12 meters high at the end of construction work, provide them with a touch of color, while their airy tops allow the refracted light to enter the Interior street. Around these gardens, and for each of the two divisions, the various workshops are organized according to the manufacturing cycle of the product. The visible material is a slightly burnished metal sheeting. An idealized expression of agricultural buildings, it reflects the surrounding nature and allows the factory to gently blend into it. Each part of the project is conceived so as to enable the envisaging of workshop extensions and parking areas. For that reason, the rigorous conception of the composition's masses and their effects remains subject to variation. Extensions are possible via the aleatory articulation of supplementary squares, which would thus create visual irregularities, notably in the frontal view; for the:. moment, then, there is no definitive configuration of the extensions to the factory, but rather the wish for a game of chance elicited by the metal/vegetal encounter of volumes and reflections. Dominique Perrault, 1998 Dominique Perrault Kolonihavehus Dominique Perrault arcspace features