The main feature of the plan is an exterior arrival courtyard whose boundaries are defined by a marquee roof that completes the rectangle of the building's plan and to which the public can gain access via a sloping forecourt from Wiseman Street or a flight of steps from Saint-Just Street. The conviviality of this courtyard would have more impact if the small volume of the entrance did not obstruct about a quarter of its surface and if the access doors were not oriented solely towards Saint-Just Street.
The plan is simple and does not pretend to emphasize a panoramic view of the interior as in other projects. Yet it offers some breakthroughs to the upper floor by using on the side of Saint-Just Street, a spatial strategy of platforms creating "spaces within spaces", "houses within the house", [...]
The loan counter is very close to the entrance, which forces the positioning of the controls to be located at half the useful space of the counter. The temporary storage needed for this service will obscure the planned fenestration.
The treatment of the exterior envelope is of great elegance and its mechanical tower is well integrated into the composition of the whole.
A garden sloping towards the building provides natural lighting in the basement of the staff lounge. This slope acts in the opposite direction of the forecourt, providing an interesting landscape on Wiseman Street.
(From ARQ Magazine #86 August 1995, p.11)
(CRC translation)
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