In Toulouse, TAA signs the new takeoff of Halles Latécoère
For the Occitanie Region, owner (works budget: 32.8 M €), Taillandier Architectes Associés (TAA) delivered in 2020 to Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) “La Cité”, i.e. the rehabilitation of the former Halles Latécoère (13 954 m²) in order to create a third place dedicated to collaborative and sustainable innovation. Communicated.
La Cité is located to the south-east of the city of Toulouse, in the Montaudran district, near the railway line which runs along the classified Aéropostale track. The building is itself classified intangible heritage of the industrial history of the same aeronautics of Toulouse.
Built between 1917 to 1918 on the initiative of the industrialist Pierre-Georges Latécoère, the Halles Latécoère bears witness to the origin of the industrialization of aeronautics in Toulouse.
Since the First World War, this aircraft assembly site has developed to the north of an aeronautical complex of 45 hectares, spread out on either side of the Toulouse – Sète railway line.
Originally established for the needs of the railway industry, then quickly attributed to the aeronautical industry, the three halls housed the first aeronautical constructions in Toulouse, with the assembly of war planes and then commercial and airmail planes. . Despite its fame, the loss-making Aéropostale was bought in 1933 by the company Air France, which recorded the activity until the start of the Second World War. Pierre-Georges Latécoère, then associated with the aircraft manufacturer Louis Bréguet, sold him the land at Montaudran in 1940. Louis Bréguet rebuilt and then extended the site to produce bombers and then airliners until the 1970s.
With a footprint of over 9,000 m², the La Cité project includes the three historic halls of the Latécoère factories. Despite the destruction of 1944 and the redevelopments carried out over the years, the site remains preserved and retains several remarkable works including the three rooms, listed as Historical Monuments since July 21, 1997. They constitute, by their composition and their imposing volumes , a homogeneous monumental ensemble.
The other works registered under the same title are the building of the passenger waiting room, the runway in its current right-of-way, going from its north-west end to the south-east of the management building, as well as the facades, roofs and left wing in return on the courtyard of the management building – called Château Petit Espinet Raynal.
The site hosting the La Cité project is located in a rapidly changing district (ZAC Saint Exupéry, ZAC TMA, etc.). Its immediate environment is made up of residential areas and industrial and logistics activities. It borders the Rangueil scientific and university complex to the south, consumes more than 35,000 students and teachers.
The City therefore develops inside the former Halles Latécoère and its three historic halls, approximately 120 meters long and 26 meters wide. Each nave has an area of approximately 3082 m² of floor space, for a total of approximately 9246 m². Thanks to the acquisition of the neighboring plot to the south, access to the halls has been doubled, to the north-east and to the south-east. The La Cité project provides for the development of 13,954 m² of floor space dedicated to co-working spaces, meeting rooms, a conference room with 200 seats, a restaurant, a Fablab and an event space. Like the innovative structures it hosts, La Cité must be able to guide the future developments of the site in which it is established. The project is part of the continuity of the evolution of the site while maintaining the historical link of past achievements.
The halls having lived over a longer period in their second state of transformation (1945 – 1953), the restoration project takes up the main characteristics. La Cité also refers to its origins (1917 – 1920) while adapting to today’s needs. The modifications mainly concern the roofs (frames and roofs), facades and interiors (brick piers, overhead cranes).
Regarding the facades, the metal canopies and adjacent warehouses were demolished in order to free up and offer new visibility to La Cité. The quays to the south are preserved, offering a use of terrace for the users. The project enhances the existing structure, with an enhancement of its structure and a very light intervention of the ground, touching only the existing one.
The various programs are located in volumes built with a wooden frame, which develop under the existing frames of the halls. These volumes are mainly developed in the two side naves, in order to free the central nave, the only one in metal frame, to offer a large open space dedicated to events. The choice fell on a light framework in order to allow great flexibility within La Cité.
Roof repair
Thanks to the work of Pierre-Yves Caillault, chief architect of the Historic Monuments, the curved profile of the roofs of the side halls has been rediscovered: these roofs originally followed the curve of their concrete frame, before being subsequently processed. Conversely, the roof of the central hall has undergone few changes over time. The City therefore retains the historic design of the roofs, adapting it to the needs of the project.
Roof openings are limited to skylights in order to provide regular and diffused overhead light that easily matches new interior uses. This then implies the restoration of the metal frame, with occasional consolidations and the replacement of deteriorated or missing elements and the conservation of the lighting diffused by the intermediary of ribbed skylights.
The current layout is always modified to match the new interior program, taking inspiration from historical states. The project needs to remove the entire roof in order to renovate the batten, insulate slightly and take back the tiles in poor condition. Only two bays at each end are fully covered with mechanical tiles and slightly widened to match the alignment of the glass walls on the facade, i.e. an arrangement already present on the southwest facade from 1917-1944.
After a meeting with the regional curator of historic monuments, the choice fell on maintaining the volumetric language of the roofs of the halls, with the development of more modern samples, designed for the occasion.
Facade concept
According to the archive photos of the Halles Latécoère, the main facades were described as appliance facades representing a principle of opening vaulted in triptych on each of the naves.
After the partial destruction of the building during the war, these facades which generated the unique identity of these industrial rooms were pointed out, then forgotten. After much chronological research, the meeting with the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs and many debates on the authenticity of the facades, it was decided to evoke this old facade by keeping it in line with its time, with a more current reinterpretation.
Thus the new transverse facades of the halls take up this principle of a light facade by means of twisted vertical slats which reveal, through the position of the tendril, the impression of the old vaults. The south-west facade, bordering the railroad tracks, uses this same principle, with the addition of horizontal sunshade slats. The posts of the concrete canopy housing the old unloading dock are laid bare in order to magnify this structure.
As for the side facade, it presents a rhythm of alternating posts of openings and while having vertical slats at the level of each opening. This makes it possible to manage direct lighting in the southwest-facing offices while maintaining this full empty rhythm. Above the entrance, the sunshade slats come horizontally to create a canopy in order to monumentalize the lateral access to La Cité.