UF - LABO
This new buildings is part of L'Union des Forgerons' develompent and expansion of its industrial site – it is a metallographic and mechanical testing laboratory situated in the town of Le Mérévillois, France.
The 21mx21m plan is divided into three sections, with the different entities and programs articulated around a central staircase going from the cellar to the first floor. On the ground floor, metallographic and mechanical testing laboratories are located on either side of a the entrance. The first floor, similarly, is arranged perpendiculary to the ground floor, thus controlling access to the the different offices. A basement provides storage and archival space for the different samples being analysed.
The use of concrete as the primary and expressive structure of the building stems from a request for rapid construction by the client (11 months), but also from the extremely restrictive fire safety standards imposed by this programme. We therefore chose to embrace this constraint and use it as an expressive tool generating a functional yet precisely drawn building-machine.
The structure is composed of prefabricated concrete pre-walls. A groove on the exterior wall was added using a mesh to create a façade design that echoes the curved elements produced by the Union des Forgerons and the cladding of industrial buildings. The layout follows standard panel dimensions, thus defining the floor heights and openings.
This rigid concrete mass is punctuated with technical elements such as an exterior galvanised staircase giving access to the roof, an entrance canopy, a chimney evacuating the toxic fumes, and a terrasse with a view on the industrial site.
Among the various components of the project, the entrance canopy was designed in collaboration with the workers producing the parts to be tested in the building. The post supporting the steel sheets was not only produced on site by L'Union des Forgerons, but also demonstrates the multitude of skills and machining methods used by the company.
