Awen, 60 collective housing units, Lorient

The Bodelio ZAC embodies a major ambition, bringing together a strategic and operational urban project designed to strengthen and expand the urban center of the Lorient metropolitan area. Located on the brownfield site of the former Bodélio Hospital, in the immediate vicinity of downtown, it offers exceptional land potential, ideal for respectful and ambitious urban renewal.

To enliven this urban corridor, the project highlights the concept of a “lived-in park” through the creation of an architectural folly at the corner of the lot. By definition, a folly punctuates a promenade and enhances a garden. Here, it punctuates the pedestrian route through the city, from the entrance arch to the former chapel, transforming the Caroline Cuissard Promenade into a path rich in history and remarkable features. The folly stands out through its unique design, which sets it apart from the project’s three other architectural elements.It stands tall, bold, welcoming, and warm with its slate facade and wooden loggias. Drawing on its Breton heritage, it places great importance on the finishes of its slate cladding. It rests on stilts sheltering a transparent, open, lively, and inviting ground floor. It displays its elegance and sensitivity through its arched railings, which echo the old perimeter wall. Finally, it boasts a sloping roof that softens its appearance and makes it blend seamlessly into the Nominoë Park. Leading the three other buildings, it enhances them with its distinctiveness. The folly is thus sensitive to its context, bold in its design, rich in its uses, discreet in its volume, and grand in spirit, radiating on an urban scale.

Through this design, we are committed to highlighting the Caroline Cuissard Promenade, a key thoroughfare within the ZACwith striking features. About the mass volume, the challenge is to create a smooth transition with the neighboring Block B2, always with the goal of making this urban sequence more appealing. The qualities of this whimsical structure are thus evident across multiple scales: urban, architectural, historical, and landscape.