M6A1 Diderot

The wide range of complex issues around this project required a building that would take into account the constraints, while at the same time offering a place for research and interaction that would establish a seamless and dynamic relationship with the surrounding public space.
 
With a view to simplicity and clarity, this project combines three contrasting building functions, education spaces, sports halls and car park, stacked on top of each other, with each layer working separately, to form a unified whole.
 
At 20 metres wide, the building's simple design can accommodate all the layout requirements and flexibility demanded by the programme. The volume and the void lend weight, and through the hollowing out on the site, successively cutting into it, and permeability, a temporal dimension. Material is dug out, hollowing out the building, and opening up a garden into which light passes, and so emerges a "monolith" that is both simple and complex.