Crèche des Champs-Fréchets

Type

Éducation, Équipements publics

Date de réalisation

2008

Ingénieur civil

ESM Ingénierie SA

Maître de l'ouvrage

Commune de Meyrin

Autre(s) intervenant(s)

Surface brute

1'187 m2

Coût

5'800'000

Procédure

concours

Architecte

BASSICARELLA ARCHITECTES

Interview de l'architecte

Descriptif

Les Champs-Fréchets day nursery stands in a courtyard, facing on one side the neighbourhood school erected in the 1970s and on the other side rental buildings. This location between tarmac and garden gave it a special status and its double porch proved useful: the first porch became the entrance and the second the outside extension of the activity rooms. Despite land that is almost flat, the project managed to make use of the small difference in level, slighting raising the building on its south façade, in order to give it some functional privacy. The project has a clear rectangular shape and its the autonomy in the site is reinforced by the spatial sequences of the layout: the entrance, then the centre’s service rooms, the transversal corridor, the common rooms (rooms for afternoon nap and bathrooms) the six activity rooms and, finally, the outside space. The cross section confirms the principle of the module plan, with three large north-light roofs, which shed natural light into the centre of the day nursery. The very light, simple design is echoed in the sparing use of materials: tinted concrete for the facades in the form of large precast panels, large sliding full-height windows with natural oak fames, and an interior environment of white surfaces, apart from the continuous natural wood floor in the same wood species as the window frames.