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Rennes, France

Completed in 2015, the project of the rehabilitation of the Nursing Care Formation Institute brings together different programs. It includes a multi-sport room, a library, two amphitheaters, and a living space for the students. Situated next to one of Renne’s hospital (Pontchaillou hospital), in the northwest part of the city, this formation centre is not very noticeable from the metro station and the hospital.

This formation centre, built in the end of the 1970’s, had the need of upgrading’s in fire safety, in thermal and electrical standards but also in accessibility for persons with mobility handicaps. They also need the construction of a living space for the students and a library, supplemented by the refurbishment of the facades (it has been just painted in white – that explain the fact that we didn’t present you the façade of the centre in the required files).

In this project, our decision was to minimize our intervention on the original building, a little rundown, but exceptional with its light quality. Finally, simple interventions (joinery and paintings) have been enough to requalify each space. We essentially thought about the user’s scale of the building: spaces and functions had been reinvented taking into account the technical program; circulations had been reorganized and resized; the living space for the student became a comfortable and functional room; modular furniture (kitchen, benches, tables) was drawn by the designer Erwan Mével, in order to fit with the Institute multiple uses.