Médiathèque municipale et Maison du Temps Libre

This mixed-use brief is set within a heterogeneous urban fabric characteristic of 1960s modernist planning, defined by functional zoning and spatial discontinuity.

The media library architecture is structured around a landscape-driven design strategy, aiming to reconstitute an imagined topography: the hypothesis of a former river island within the Vézère floodplain, originally planted with Scots pines. The library architect conceives a conceptual forest island as the organising framework for the intervention. Within this preserved natural matrix, the building is designed as a contemporary climatic envelope, a hybrid structure of stainless steel and glazed curtain walling, operating as a transparent greenhouse typology. The media library architecture selectively opens onto the constructed landscape, establishing controlled visual and physical porosities, while the roofscape is articulated as a fully vegetated fifth façade, reinforcing ecological continuity and thermal performance.

On the ground floor, the library architect of the Maison du temps libre defined it as a flexible, multi-functional hall, subdividable through operable partitions into two adaptable spatial units. It also accommodates administrative offices and back-of-house support functions, structured through a clear separation between served and servicing zones.

The media library architecture spans two levels — ground and first floors — forming a continuous double-height space. It comprises a reception with a lending desk, offices, support spaces, and a large open-plan reading and activity area. This daylit open volume supports multiple simultaneous uses, with loosely defined programmatic clusters for workshops, cultural mediation and educational events, allowing for high spatial adaptability and fluid occupation patterns.