Mateo Arquitectura

Project for the Tête de Pont in Bayonne from Josep Lluís Mateo on Vimeo

Remodelling of the urban front of the river Adour. Project for Tête de Pont, a new gateway to the city of Bayonne (France)

First prize. Restricted Competition 2006

The Tête de Pont project is located overlooking the river Adour and marks a new approach to the old town. This project marks the start of the urban renewal of the Adour embankments between the city centre and the estuary.

The plot of land between the Allées marines and Boulevard du BAB serves to complete the sequence comprising the crossing of Henry Grenet Bridge to the city centre.

The volume of the entire city block sits atop a base formed by an underground car park and a shopping mall that occupies the entire ground floor.

The frontage overlooking the river comprises a relatively low volume that imposes a horizontal rhythm throughout the five storeys, with two large openings that run through the city block from its centre towards the Adour.

Behind, the progression of the zinc roofing makes its presence felt, along with a series of projections that offer broader vistas over the river.

In contrast, the meeting of Boulevard du BAB and Avenue Henri Grenet forms a harder, L-shaped corner that marks the urban composition and protects the centre of the city block from noise. This taller volume, with six storeys, forms a counterpoint to the overall composition.

As on the side overlooking the Adour, there is a large opening in the volume facing south onto Boulevard du BAB. This draws light into the courtyard and offers views of the city in the distance.

Avenue Dubrocq consists of a staggered volume of two small towers (eight and seven floors respectively), clad in zinc. Fragmenting the volume on the street side serves to draw light into the centre of the block and create a more dynamic view of the street.

Finally, at the centre of the street block, a lower, more delicate timber-clad volume is inserted to avoid creating shade. It serves to separate the two planted courtyards corresponding respectively to the freemarket and the social housing blocks.

All the dwellings benefit from their respective conditions: open to the south and protected from the north, with terraces and gardens that allow them to enjoy views of the Adour or of the new neighbourhood.

The two gardens

The landscape treatment of the two gardens is an important contribution to the quality of the dwellings. It represents circulation space, laying out the different stairwells around the principal shafts, and a pleasant space where residents can meet and relax.

We envisage different scenarios in the two courtyards, with lots of trees. In the courtyard of the freemarket housing block, there will be two “small mountains” (about 1.50 m high) to allow the planting of tall trees on the floor slab of the mall. These topographies draw out paths and provide visual protection for the terraces on the ground floor.

The courtyard of the social housing block is a sloping plane that has two functions:

- To draw the gaze skywards through the break in the volume overlooking the Allées marines.

- To give privacy to the approaches to the free-market dwellings and the terraces of the timber-clad

buildings.

The two large openings will accommodate wooden decks.

Façades and Materials

The composition of the volume is reinforced by a specific treatment of each part using a particular material: the combination of concrete and glass, wood and zinc.

The base of the mall is given a curtain wall of transparent or semi-opaque screen-printed glass according to the layout of the premises.

The façade of the building overlooking the BAB and Avenue Henri Grenet (building C) comprises a foreground of white screen-printed glass with the gradual introduction of semi-opaque patterns. The glass forms a railing with a transparent movable part that serves to enclose the loggias and protect them from traffic noise to the south and east.

The gradation starts at the corner, where it is most opaque, becoming more transparent towards the ends, where the glass gradually gives way to a background of precast pigmented concrete. There will be four different colours.

The superposition of semi-opaque glass and a tinted white element sets off a vibration in the façade. On Avenue Dubrocq, the volumes (building A) are clad with zinc, with folding shutters that create a random order following the openings and the doors of each dwelling. There is a reminder of wood at each opening and at the entrances to the terraces.

Building C has a class II wooden cladding, introducing a more domestic feel at the centre of the street block. A combined vertical and horizontal arrangement and sliding shutters for the doorways mark out the composition of the façades.

All the sloped roofs will be of traditional zinc with standing seams, also used for the vertical elements in the façade.

The walk-on terraces will be built of wood, and the inaccessible terraces will be finished with white gravel.

Author: Josep Lluís Mateo

Client: KAUFMAN & BROAD and EIFFAGE CONSTRUCTION

Competition: 2006

Surface: 70.000 m2