With its extremely rich heritage, the pumping station is an archetype of the industrial architecture of the early 20th century.
Its design expresses the idea of a true prototype. We adapted our project to the programmatic demands, while always remaining aware of the history of the building, steering clear both of nostalgia and amnesia. Inside the building, the walls are thick and have shallow openings. Each opening, however, should be seen as a fracture, enabling links to be made between spaces that were previously separated. To maintain the user-friendliness of the building, we chose to open up the walls, following a principle of alignment with the already existing openings in the facades. This approach, which also respects the seismic constraints, also enhances the vistas inside the building. This principle helps to bring the programmatic units together on a symbolic and structural level. The visible undersides of the roofs will also be entirely reworked. They will be part of an absorbing structure that will guarantee acoustic comfort in the exhibition spaces on the two levels. Fine painted wooden laths, disjointed and laid down in a herringbone pattern, will cover this isolating layer. Here again, we have opted for a contemporary reinterpretation of an older working method.
