Venelles performing arts hall and media library by King Kong

The Bordeaux-based practice King Kong will deliver the new cultural hub in Venelles in 2022. The team won the competition on 20 June 2018 with Lacaille Lassus Architecte as associate, beating Carta Associés and Chabanne Architectes. The 18-month building works will begin in 2020.

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Speaking to the Actuarchi editorial team, the architects at King Kong explain that they set out to design: “The best response to the urban context and the most relevant internal organisation for the facility”.

See also:

• Marseille Provence Airport extension by Foster + Partners
• Mouvaux cultural centre by King Kong
• Rouen contemporary music venue by King Kong

Context and site

Venelles is a municipality of 8,400 inhabitants, 39 km north of Marseille. The council wants to provide its residents with a larger multipurpose hall and a unique cultural venue that will showcase the work of local associations. The brief therefore includes a small and a large multipurpose hall, together with a media library.

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Françoise Weller, deputy mayor for culture, explains: “It will become part of a public reading network and act as a balancing facility for the area, serving as a relay for the neighbouring smaller communes and taking part in a dynamic of cooperation and resource-sharing across the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolitan area”.

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The new cultural hub sits at the entrance to the town, on a vacant triangular plot in a business park along the main road, the RD 96. From an architectural point of view, the challenge of the project is to define the gateway to the town.

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King Kong's architectural composition

The new cultural hub is organised around a public garden. The building has two entrances: one to the north, on the garden side, and the other to the south, on the main street. From this reception area, two volumes meet. One is a fully glazed ground-floor volume housing the media library and the youth room. The other is mineral in character and marked by two raised forms that signal the two multipurpose halls. These are linked by a shared plinth and given air by a planted patio.

Two multipurpose halls

The multipurpose halls are located to the west, a placement that stems from King Kong's wish to give users a garden sheltered from the wind. The Bordeaux architects have opted for white cast-in-place concrete. The façades are perforated with glass blocks and recesses, allowing daylight into the circulation areas.

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Both halls have retractable seating. The small hall, to the south, offers around a hundred seats and up to 330 standing places. The large hall can hold 346 seated people, 624 standing (retractable seating closed) or 815 (retractable seating closed plus fixed seating).

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The future Venelles media library

The architects have placed the media library to the east, on the rue de la Grande Bégude. Their aim is to put culture in the spotlight, hence its position close to Venelles's main thoroughfare. The service areas sit behind a black concrete screen that marks their non-public character, in contrast with the music rooms. The media library is relatively minimalist, with a concrete floor and a timber suspended ceiling. It forms a passage between the public garden and the street.

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