Pavillon des Douanes
Lyon, France
RHONE SAONE DEVELOPPEMENT, CARDINAL INVESTISSEMENT SAS
Mandatory architect: WILMOTTE & ASSOCIÉS ARCHITECTES
Executive project supervisor: ARQUITECTURE
Structure: Pierre Martin
Fluids ingeneer: Gecc AICC
Economist: Jean-Claude Campion
4,719 sqm
2007
Refurbishment and conversion of the former customs warehouse into art galleries, commercial premises, offices and a restaurant.
Built in the 1930s, the old customs warehouse is back on the banks of the Saône. This massive volume with its repetitive openings is located in the business and leisure park developed by Voies Navigables de France (VNF) in the former port area on the left bank, upstream from the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers.
The renewal of the building is part of an innovative context on a site dedicated to culture and the media, on the Quai Rambaud, between the leisure centre to the north and the Musée des Confluences to the south, in the spirit of the specifications drawn up in 2004 by architect François Grether and landscape architect Michel Desvigne.
This conversion highlights the built volume and reinforces the rhythms of the existing openings with a unified treatment. A black lacquered metal grating covers almost the entire building. On the facade, the old openings have been reframed horizontally to provide light for the office floors. The metalwork has been lifted away from the facade to let in the light and reveal the original masonry lurking behind, which has been renovated accordingly. Depending on the reflections caused by the grid, the volume reveals changing shades.
