Courthouse Of Poitiers

Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia

COURTHOUSE OF POITIERS

B+a Architectes

ARCHITECTS
B+a Architectes

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS
Slg Paysage

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Michael Fellmann

MANUFACTURERS
Technal, Iguzzini, Baswa Acoustic, Balsan, Barrisol, Bolon, Cintrat Eclairage, Carrière Du Hainaut, Colt, Forster, Raico, Sadev

ACOUSTICS CONSULTANT
Alternative

PHOTOGRAPHS
Sergio Grazia

SIGNAGE
Cl Design

AREA
14300 m²

YEAR
2019

LOCATION
Poitiers, France

CATEGORY
Courthouse, Refurbishment, Historic Preservation

The layout of a courthouse is governed by a strong historical symbolism of monumentality, independence, and equity.

Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia

It must also comply with strictly separated flows: the judge, the defendant, and the audience must be able to reach the courtrooms without crossing paths.

It is a place designed for work, interaction, and settlement that requires both calm and dignity.

Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia

In Poitiers, several courts were scattered throughout the city, making it difficult to work together efficiently.

The Ministry of Justice decided to gather all jurisdictions under one roof and launched an architectural competition.

Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia

The new Courthouse was to be set in a former Jesuit school built in 1864 in a Neo-Gothic style and recently abandoned for safety reasons.

Set against the hillside of the historic city center, this massive, rigorous building is very impressive.

Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia

It also holds a strong symbolic presence in the collective memory since it was the school of many generations of the city’s children.

The main challenge is to transform a reclusive building, designed to protect its students, into an open, public institution and imagine a completely different layout that establishes new spatial and functional evidence.

Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia

Installing the public courtrooms and their separated corridors which require a lot of space within the existing structures of a protected heritage turns out to be particularly complex.

B+A Architects design an additional building underneath the central garden containing the courtrooms, in order to keep the original state of the historic building.

In the contemporary extension, all the public areas are hosted on a single platform continuous to the existing building.

Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia

Located in the geographical center of the historic building, the waiting hall and 21 courtrooms are the focal points towards which judges, defendants, and visitors converge.

The new building is covered by a planted roof with skylights that are part of the landscape design and illuminate the waiting hall and courtrooms underneath.

Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia

The rigidity required to cross the large span above the main waiting hall is obtained by a folded roof slab.

Above, the hollows contain the layer of earth necessary for the garden.

Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia

The sloped ceiling underneath projects the sunlight evenly into the hall and provides the proper sound diffraction.

The walls of the courtrooms are covered with a limestone pattern reminiscent of the removed rock layer.

Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia

In the historic building, the wide hallways that once handled the flow of pupils remain and the former classrooms are replaced by office spaces.

Thus, the jurisdictions continue to work as independent units linked together by an interior street.

Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia

The architecture of the new courthouse is a combination of traditional know-how and state-of-the-art engineering – contemporary architecture inspired by the quality of the historic spaces.

Reintegrated Into the historical center of Poitiers, the new Courthouse represents the authority of the judicial institution while reviving the memory of the ancient school.

Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia
Courthouse Of Poitiers
© Sergio Grazia


Courthouse Of Poitiers
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Courthouse Of Poitiers
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Courthouse Of Poitiers
Ground Floor Plan
Courthouse Of Poitiers
Site Plan
Courthouse Of Poitiers
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