TOURATERRE

AUGOST 2014

TOURATERRE WORKSHOP :

" Touraterre is a group of dedicated Young architects, builders and researchers who share a common passion for raw earth construction and the Provence region.
For the third year they are organising an architecture workshop for European architecture students.
The originality of this workshops reside in the fact that the students design and build their own project out of raw earth during the three weeks of the workshop. 
Every year Touraterre works along other organisations that share their philosophy about life and construction. As such it has worked with an organisation hosting homeless people (in 2011), with an ecological organisation (2012) or to build a ‘guinguette’ or little bar/terrace/dancing and gathering place for an elders home (2013).

This year’s workshop will take place in casa/Has at Tri postal  Avignon. The goal will be to design a build a little project out of raw earth, using the materials provided on site, and this in four weeks.
The students will be camping on site, (bring your own tent).
Touraterre and the hosting organisation will provide for the material, the tools, and the pedagogical programm.

WORKING :

This project will be yours. From the drawing table to the final building what will come out will reflect the dedication and involvement of the students and the Touraterre team.
As such we expect students who want to work and learn in an intense common effort to realise an unique architectural experience."

http://touraterreworkshop2014-babelautri.hautetfort.com

CASA/HAS at Tri postal, a story of ten years.

10 years ago, the association CASA has been created to shelter homeless as however they are.

A night shelter take place in the part of the Tri ground floor, “l'espèce d'espace”.

A day shelter, CHRS, took place in a dozen containers, the “Villa Medicis”.

Since these years, this alternative association conducts together the social and the cultural practices convinced that art needs to be present in each discipline and each discipline needs to be linked between each other. 

In this way conferences, artistic residences, exhibitions or events frequently occupy the ground floor.

It is still in this philosophy that CASA-HAS made a call to Pole d'exploration des Ressources Urbaines, PEROU and Notre Atelier Commun/NAC to invent with them the renovation project of this old 

Mail sorting center.

Those 2000 square meters since a long time empty, creates an opportunity to house the growing space needs of this CASA-HAS.

After six month of feasibility, an architectural residency drove by NAC and PEROU will take place inside the TRI. They will apply their own methodology based on gathering, expanded time and desire of DIWO (Do It With Others) as a key of the high humanistic projects’ quality.

 (http://www.perou-paris.org/index.html, http://www.legrandensemble.com/ )

This architectural residency will produce, during 8 months, the program of the future construction. There was the necessity to construct a building site office, which in one hand would host this residency and in the other hand would start the activation of the site. This two issues drove automatically to Touraterre. 

Armed with the desire to build together and spread the Provence’s raw earth heritage richness and to conceive projects submersed in the local context. Babel au Tri was born.

A lighthouse at the tri postal of Avignon…

The project 

It is a call for attention towards the street; the volume unfolds beyond the old industrial courtyard, by raising its head beyond the fence. By questioning the blueprint of the street pattern and attracting curiosity it communicates a dialogue and transition between the people in the urban street pattern and the different actors of this big and vivid rehabilitation project of social and cultural objectives.

Compact, to minimize its contact with the ground and its consumption of energy, its two levels are interconnected through an amphitheater creating a generously spacious interior that allows for multiple uses: a smaller and lighter office area of a more private character at the upper level, and a gathering area for reunions at the lower level, unfolding itself with large openings towards its vivid courtyard.