Town centre renewal: a museum, a square and a covered market , Scionzier/ Frankreich

 

The Franco-Swiss architecture firm Atelier Archiplein just completed the renewal of the town centre and the covered market in the municipality of Scionzier (74). A 10-flat block of social housing built of stone and wood on the banks of the Rhône in Geneva will be finished this summer. 

 

Town centre renewal : a museum, a square and a covered market

Scionzier, France (74)

 

 

Since 2017, Atelier Archiplein has worked on the renewal of the town centre of Scionzier in Haute-Savoie. Prior to their intervention, the centre of the town lacked a strong identity, functioning mainly as a transit zone towards ski resorts and leisure activities in the mountains. Delivered to the inhabitants of the town in early 2023, the redeveloped “town heart” transformed the image of the municipality, brought new uses, revitalized the space public, and enhanced the inhabitants’ quality of life whilst also enabling the town of Scionzier to become a new destination for cultural events (concerts, cinemas), a weekly market, a Christmas market, flea markets, and jumble sales as well as music festivals, all of which required a vast open space.

 

The vast wooden market hall is the main urban element of the new development scheme. It plays the role of urban connector and signal of renewal. It relies on a calm and silent architectural repertoire, with its roof being both reassuring and grandiose. Its rigorous geometry takes the form of an equilateral triangle. Named the “Grenette de Scionzier” it is part of the new collective urban storytelling, from the point of view of uses and of a new form of urban semantics. Three main generators guided its design: transparency of the roof to guarantee maximum natural light, a minimum of loadbearing points to maximize uses and finally, a structural system allowing for the exclusive use of solid wood.

 

 

The project consists of the rehabilitation and enlargement of a former machining factory into a municipal cultural centre. This new cultural centre is part of a larger effort to renovate the town centre of Scionzier. It now completes the enclosure of the new central square, equipped with a broad porch composed of a solid Hauteville stone colonnade that reorganizes the façade, designates the entrance, and especially signals the building’s new relationship with the public space.

 

Inside, in a succession of compressed and open spaces, the long and slender spatiality of the former factory is revealed. The low-arched bays allow for ample penetration of light and offer a wide and flexible range of uses and spaces. The enlargement, required by the brief,  glides lengthwise along the building.

 

5 rue du Foron, 74950 Scionzier, Haute-Savoie, France

Renovation and extension

Municipality of Scionzier

Architect : Atelier Archiplein

BET Structure : Plantier

Economist : Arnaud

M&E engineer : Berger 

Surface 

1 100 m²

3,5 M€ HT 

Competition 2017

Delivery 2020

© Aurélien Poulat

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