Massive picket beams body the interiors of L’échappée, a multimedia library in France designed by native observe Atelier WOA as an alternative choice to “institutional and chilly” public buildings.

Occupying a protracted slim web site in Herblay sur Seine, L’échappée – which means “escapade” in English – faces a highway to the north with a stone and glass facade and opens as much as a area to the south with a big picket colonnade.

To guard the library from the summer time solar, Atelier WOA wrapped the highest of the constructing with a white aluminium display screen, which is completed with small angular perforations.

‘‘L’échappée, or The Escapade, stands for a spot of conferences and exchanges, and a name to tradition,” mentioned the studio.

“[It] embodies the straightforward paradox of a landmark constructing that seeks to mix into its setting,” it continued.

The library itself occupies the centre of the constructing, which rises upwards at both finish to kind a two-storey workplace block to the east and a stepped auditorium to the west.

In line with Atelier WOA, this design acts as “an invite to enter”.

The library takes the type of a singular massive area subdivided by curtains, bookshelves and screens to permit for flexibility.

“The expansive inside quantity consists of a very open plan, offering most flexibility and adaptableness for future makes use of,” mentioned the studio.

A sequence of smaller rooms line the entrance of the constructing, whereas on the again the studying areas open onto a coated walkway, offering sheltered seating areas overlooking a area.

Atelier WOA, which is an acronym for Wooden Oriented Design, goals to show in all of its initiatives how architects can “construct in a different way” with wooden. At L’échappée, the fabric is complemented with stone in reference to a historic close by quarry.

“We’re concerned within the timber building for the reason that creation of the company, main most of our initiatives with the willingness to show how we will construct in a different way with wooden,” the studio advised Dezeen.

This ambition aligns with the French authorities sustainability regulation to make sure all new public buildings are constructed from not less than 50 per cent timber or different pure supplies.

Based mostly in Paris, Atelier WOA was based in 2012 by Samuel Poutoux, Rémi Crozat and Marc-Henri Maxit.

Different library initiatives lately featured on Dezeen embody Indian observe Studio Hinge’s renovation of a library in Mumbai and Snøhetta’s Beijing Metropolis Library with tree-like columns.

The pictures is by ​Salem Mostefaoui.

Challenge credit: 

Architect: Atelier WOA
Challenge proprietor: Herblay sur Seine
Affiliate architect: Atelier Angel Architecte
Designer: Studio Martial Marquet
Panorama architects: Agence 22°
Structural engineering agency: Barthès Bois
Fluid/thermal engineering agency: Pouget Consultants
Acoustic engineering agency: Résonance
Amount surveyor: Minerva
Wooden building firm: Briand Bois Building
Large stone building firm: Philippe d’Artwork
Concrete structural work firm: SNRB