Opus 5 Architectes completed a new cultural center for the city of Chessy, a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris and part of the Brie region. The new center is located in the historic Tournelles farm, with vestiges of Brie’s imposing farm buildings still evident. A contemporary edifice, the Tournelles Cultural Center’s design combines the farm’s original barns with newly erected buildings (constructed by reusing materials from several of the farm’s premises that were pulled down).
‘In-between’
The Tournelles farm site is described as in-between, a remnant of rural life in an ever expanding urban context. To its north-west is Chessy, a place transformed by the development of the new town of Marne-la-Vallée. To its south-east is the vast Disneyland Paris complex. Tournelles is viewed as a unique monument, a place with historical value in the region’s surrounding agglomeration of new buildings. For Opus 5, it was important that the cultural center should recall the memory of its agricultural past.
Designing and building Tournelles Cultural Center
Opus 5 had to determine which elements of Tournelles farm characterized its history, deciding to retain, remove, or transform certain structures, while ensuring the new cultural center's design was both cohesive and appealing.
The massive volumes of Tournelles farm surround a central protected courtyard, the structure in many ways reminiscent of a castle or fortress. The farm’s two huge barns were preserved, however, following the results of a diagnosis performed at the outset of the project, Opus 5 made a decision to demolish the two wings bordering the courtyard (owing to their deteriorating state). Two new buildings were erected: one to house the music school workshops and the other to house a multipurpose room (alongside offices, dressing rooms, and stage clearance for the performance hall). The new buildings were treated as perimeter walls — their design ensures consistency of the farm’s layout, with structures organized around the central courtyard.
To maintain Tournelles farm’s architectural vernacular, Opus 5 utilized the materials from the original wings. Tiles and rubble were removed, broken down, screened, and stored in mounds of a varied nature, then reused as a new composition of limestone and terracotta, evoking geological layers. The new mineral walls are punctuated by randomly arranged circular openings, their placement providing light and a visual connection with the outside. At various intervals, access points allow entry to the cultural center’s amenities. These entrances are served by a pathway that edges the facility — the pathway was fashioned using paving stones from external improvements made to the original farmhouse. The central courtyard’s stepped amphitheater uses the same material as the new walls. It is designed to manage rainwater and invites users to enjoy musical activities outdoors.
Emphasizing materiality
The cultural center’s stark interior spaces emphasize the importance of the materiality of the project. Unfinished concrete, rubble stone masonry restored by a barely roughened repointing, mineral screeds, the anthracite wood fiber of the floors, and the light-colored wood of the acoustic facings, work to imbue the interior with an almost monastic atmosphere, one very much conducive to musical practice. Tournelles farm’s preserved barns house the music school's orchestra room and main auditorium respectively.
The 200-seater auditorium is made up of fixed tiers and the orchestra room features a retractable stand that can be used for small performances (with 60 seats).
In completing the Tournelles Cultural Center in Chessy, Opus 5 created a space that is no longer ‘in-between’. Reimagined with sensitivity and finesse, the new center is a prime location for a musical odyssey.
Tournelles Cultural Center was project-managed by Opus 5 Architectes in collaboration with Batiserf Ingénierie, Impedance, and BET Louis Choulet.
