Apprentice Formation Centre in Saint Maur des Fossés, France

June 22, 2010 Category: Cultural, Public Buildings

Designed by Air Architecture, Apprentice Formation Centre, is located in Saint Maur des Fossés, France. Competition winners, Air Architecture were selected to design the extension and restructuring of the Apprentice Formation Centre, part of the Chamber of Trades, near Paris. The centre trains teenagers to become qualified plumbers, electricians and hairdressers and educates students in other vocational subjects.

The brief was to create a new three level building comprising a double height hall, double height plumbers’ workshop, classrooms and a meeting room with good natural light. It also specified that the existing building be redeveloped to include a new cafeteria and that the classrooms and offices be refurbished.

The yellow concrete facade reaches down to the ground and extends to the existing building, creating a generous public space which links the old with the new. The new building is based on a complex steel structure. The long span (20m) of the plumbers’ workshop is assured with full height beams that frame the second floor. The triangulations of these beams give the diamond shape of the upper level windows.

Apprentice Formation Centre by Air Architecture