Harbor master’S OFFICE
Renovation, extension and restructuring of a harbor master's office, including changing rooms and sanitary facilities for boaters, technical storage facilities, various public reception areas, offices and meeting areas for port staff, and landscaped outdoor areas.
The main objective of the operation was to develop generous and comfortable spaces while revealing the richness of the site and the existing building. The restructuring project therefore provides for the demolition of the unsightly extensions of the ground floor, to create, instead, an "inhabited base". This implies the complete reorganization of the building. In addition to housing all the functions necessary for the harbour master's office (changing rooms, sanitary facilities, workshops, storage rooms), the roof of the base is used for the installation of outdoor stairs organizing a route to the upper terrace accessible to the public. The roof is intended as a public space in itself: its entire surface is covered with mineral paving stones of light grey granite, playing with the other raw and light colours used in the project: white tinted concrete, aluminium joinery.
It then remained to renovate the existing: repairing the floors, painting, restoring and enhancing the masonry wall thus exposing the history of past modifications, manufacturing a new staircase, manufacturing and installing custom-made furniture.
This new sober and discreet volume subtly invites itself into the landscape and reads like a real urban and mineral pedestal, highlighting the heritage quality of the villa. By praising the disappearance, the aim was to restore the harmony of an ensemble and reveal the beauty of a site.