The minimal intervention approach advocates the idea that any intervention on a heritage building must be reduced to the strict minimum in order to maintain as much as possible its original material fabric. The charters of the twentieth century issued by international heritage organizations are inspired by this... Prosper Mérimée's and Viollet-le-Duc's idea of borrowing from medicine the Latin phrase "primum non nocere" (first do no harm), and Sir George Gilbert Scott's quotation: "The great danger in any restoration project is to do too much, and the great difficulty is to know when to stop. The success of our interventions and insertions remains dependent on a rigorous and exhaustive reading of the original building.
The building is composed of three parts: the volume of the entrance, the volume of the reading room and auditorium, and the volume of the bookstore. In each of these parts, the characteristic heritage elements remain in the foreground of importance. Our juxtaposed interventions appear as delicate layers in the project, enhancing in counterpoint the qualities of the existing.
First, the conservation of the three existing entrances that join Saint-Denis Street is privileged. The magnificent central marble staircase and the two lateral staircases with vaulted ceilings are highlighted. The introduction of elevators was carefully studied in order to provide universal access without the need to build ramps. The spatial organization of the building, and its heritage elements such as stained-glass windows, moldings, railings, lighting, and furniture in the reading room and bookstore are also highlighted. Thus, the architectural details of the pilasters and plaster moldings of the ceilings, and the proscenium arch of the former auditorium are preserved. In the bookstore, a vast majority of the structural steel shelving is retained.
The new elements are distinguished by their craftsmanship and lightness. Treated as a new material layer that distinguishes itself from the original building, the contemporary interventions stand out from the existing walls and surfaces. They are intended to be reversible, and they are expressed as distinct volumes or as layers placed in front of the existing surfaces. The use of new walls in clear glass, translucent glass and tin, as well as the insertion of walkways and stairs, creates a visually open architectural promenade from the entrance to the laboratories, as well as to the reading room and the renewed bookstore.
(Competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
Arguments in favor:
- Excellent proposal as to the respect of the heritage.
- Elegant and well executed project.
- Functional proposal in general.
- The best proposal for its geothermal system and its optimization of the control systems.
- The addition of metal and glass plates in the self-supporting structure of the store is relevant and appreciated.
- Good control of the interventions to be carried out on a heritage building.
Arguments against:
- We don't see the understanding of the 7 design criteria of the ideation committee.
- The teenage clientele will be bored in this traditional reading room.
- Proposal that will not make the space lively.
- The combination of noisy and non-noisy spaces is not well controlled.
- The use of the store for book storage is perplexing as this is not the intended purpose of the new facility
- The proposed exhibition space is not adapted to the use of the place.
- The traditional concept does not allow for innovation and projection into the future.
Reservations from the jury:
- Too traditional an approach for the proposed program.
- It tends more towards a library-museum than a library-laboratory.
- We fear that the dynamism sought will not be possible by keeping the reading room as it is.
- The interactive aspect of the laboratory and workshop spaces is questioned because of the proposed layout.
- The use of the spaces in the wings adjacent to the reading room is not convincing.
- The risks of budget overruns are to be monitored considering the geothermal proposal and the creation of additional spaces.
(From jury report)
(Unofficial automated translation)
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