Le Fresnoy
Turcoing, France
Bernard Tschumi
Le Fresnoy is based on a study for turning an old leisure complex from the 1920s, which included cinema, ballroom dancing, skating, horseback riding and other activities, into a film school of the twentieth century. One of the biggest innovations of the project was the use of a hangar (electronic roof) to: protect the existing buildings on the site from rain, reduce the cost of the renovation, save most of the buildings from demolition and minimize the new construction. It also allowed the integration of the mechanical ductworks with minimal impact on the existing buildings, making the construction process easier. All the mechanical ducts would then drop vertically to their respective service spaces or wherever needed. The second innovation was the use of contradictory programmatic elements in order to enrich the project: "display spaces, research labs and teaching spaces on the one hand, and historic buildings and avant-garde techniques on the other, [thus creating] an electronic Bauhaus."
The project program consisted of a school, a film studio, a mediathéque, spectacle and exhibition halls, two cinemas, laboratories for research and production (sound, electronic image, film and video), administrative offices, housing and a bar/restaurant, all within 8,000 square meters of site area.
At Le Fresnoy we can speak of an "architecture-event" rather than an "architecture-object," since the purpose of the building is to dynamize and intensify human experience. --Tschumi
Sources:
1) Le Fresnoy Architecture In/Between
by Bernard Tschumi2) Bernard Tschumi Architects Website
