Campus Vidal & Forum des Arènes, by TAA Toulouse
Taillandier Architectes Associés (TAA) delivered a mixed program in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) in April 2021 including the Ecole Vidal (3,417 m²), a residence for students (5,346 m²) and the Forum des Arènes (6,300 m² ), all for a budget of €16.7 million. Clients: Enki, Nexity. Communicated.
The purpose of the project is to build block 4 of the new Arènes district in Toulouse. Two sets that make it up: the Campus VIDAL, comprising a higher education school (Ecole VIDAL) and a student residence with 202 rooms (Résidence Artemisia Toulouse); and the Forum des Arènes, an operation of 96 collective housing units divided into two buildings.
The Arènes district in Toulouse is structured around the multimodal exchange hub and the Arènes high school. This site is easily identified by the presence near the building “Le Cristal” known under the common name ” Arena Bar which, by its dimensions of 51.50 meters in height and 230 meters in length, exceeds the neighboring buildings since its construction in 1961.
Campus Vidal is made up of a higher education school, Ecole Vidal, and student accommodation, Résidence Artemisia Toulouse. The location of the Campus has created a forecourt directly connected to public transport (train, metro, tram and bus). The main access is placed under a porch which is placed frontally to the street of November 11, 1918 to mark and signal the entrance to the residence and the school.
The facades of the Campus are aimed at the urban space, following the development plan of the district, with arrangements allowing the plot to be crossed from north to south. The Vidal Campus is part of block 4 of the new Arènes district, whose urban plan was set out by the ppa architectures and Scalène architectes agencies.
The architectural intention that determined the organization of this block stems from the desire to respond to the constraints of two distinct programs bringing together the tallest buildings in the new district: the Vidal Campus and the Forum des Arènes. The different built forms articulate with each other to create a harmonious and coherent whole within the plot.
Indeed, the project comes in three distinct forms, both to respond to the urban and the architectural program. The student residence, developed in R+10, fits directly into contact with the adjacent street and generates a new frontality along the tram line. The residence becomes an urban element and shapes a verticality that articulates with the school.
The material plays between the concrete which expresses its structure and a golden cladding in filling. The monochrome color is expressed only on this building, for the students. To signal the Vidal Campus, the residence is hollowed out at the ground floor level. The school slips under the residence becoming visible from the street.
” The hollow rectangle welcomes creates the Vidal school in R+3, this forms a horizontal counterpoint to Bar “. The ground floor of the two buildings is intertwined and communicated, to recall the uniqueness of the program, student accommodation and school. The outer walls are covered with a micro-perforated sheet metal envelope to filter the light in the classrooms.
Developed around a central patio, the Vidal School fits horizontally into the southern corner of the plot, which contributes to a distance from the surrounding elements and promotes intimacy for teaching and learning. The plan allows the cafeteria to benefit from a beautiful terrace in the patio, but also the circulations to benefit from natural light.
The amphitheater is also connected with the hall, the cafeteria and the patio, and thus makes it possible to receive external events.
” The Plots », in R+11 and R+10, hosting social housing for Toulouse Métropole Habitat and first-time buyers. This urban form comes as a counterpoint to the Cristal bar, and thus creates perspectives that fragment the Cristal bar, but also gives views of the newly created heart of the block. The plan of the two plots is articulated around a central core which allows each apartment to have an angled loggia and to benefit from double orientations. The proposed concrete facades offer durability and quality that tend to enhance the image of the district.
The materiality is an element of coherence of the island, with the use of three main materials which create a balance between the integrated elements: metal, glass and concrete. The metal is available in the form of sunshades with micro-perforated cladding, responding to the carpentry frames of the apartments. The concrete masonry is used to create the structure and the grid of the large carpentry of the school. The concrete establishes a neutrality around these more present elements, while being the support of signage.
Neat plant spaces come to dress the planters along the pedestrian alley crossing the block. A space in the ground composed of tall trees is inserted in the center of the patio of the Vidal School as well as plants with low water consumption, which is also found in front of the entrance porch of the student residence. The work on the landscape and carried out by Emma Blanc, on the urban scale of the project.