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View on the roof of the base
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Interior street
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Interior street, stairs
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The hall of the
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The hall of the
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Interior Street Alv
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Site Plan
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Longitudinal section
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Alvéole 14 Transformation of a Submarine Base
LIN Architects Urbanists. Saint-Nazaire, France
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Name of work in English
Alvéole 14 Transformation of a Submarine Base
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Name of work in original language
Alvéole 14 Transformation de la Base sous-marine
Prize year
EUmies Awards 2009
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Work Location
Saint-Nazaire, France
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Studio
LIN Architects Urbanists
EUmies Awards 2009 Shortlisted
Collaborators
Project management: Hans-Michael F LIN; Project architect: David Letellier, LIN, Philip Rieseberg, LIN, Simon-Martin Schultze, LIN; Others: Joseph Hanimann (Theories / Cultural Critique), G Architecture et Technique (Scenography); Acoustical: Yaying Xu, Bruno Suner, Altia Acoustique; Climatisation: Matthias Schuler, Transsolar; Structural engineering: Philippe Cl Batiserf Ing; Engineering: Robert Richou, Oc; Quantity surveyor: Michel Forgue; Engineering: Louis Choulet
Program
Culture
Completion
2007
The submarine base was constructed in the historical centre of Saint-Nazaire by the German Navy during WW II on an enormous scale of 295 x 130 x 18 metres with concrete walls of up to 9 metres thick. Its transformation into a contemporary cultural centre & part of an urban plan to regenerate the waterfront - was based on a series of minimal interventions that reorganised three of the former cells into distinct elements connected by an interior street.
While the centre for emerging art forms (LiFE) is a minimalistically equipped 'monospace' that can be opened up towards the harbour, the venue for contemporary music (VIP) is a dense cube enclosed by a steel frame that accommodates 600 people, as well as a bar, an archive and recording studios. From the internal street a staircase leads to a roof platform where a geodesic dome from the Berlin Tempelhof Airport serves as a 'think tank' for art and music projects.