The new 18,000-sm Maison de l’Économie Créative et de la Culture en Aquitaine, or MÉCA, brings together FRAC for contemporary art, ALCA for cinema, literature, and audiovisuals, and OARA for performing arts, into one cultural loop. BIG and FREAKS freearchitects were selected to design the art and culture building back in 2012.
A series of steps and ramps leads from the pavement of the promenade, passed the façade that provides glimpses into the stage towers of OARA and the offices of ALCA, and into the 1,100-sm outdoor urban room at MÉCA’s core. During special occasions, the outdoor urban room (and other outdoor spaces) can be turned into a stage for concerts and theatrical performances, or an extended gallery for sculptures and other art installations. The façade comprises 4,800 prefabricated concrete panels interspersed with windows of various sizes to control the amount of light entering inside. The 1.6-ton concrete slabs are sandblasted to expose their raw qualities and to texture the surface with the local sandstone of Bordeaux.
When visitors enter MÉCA from the ground floor, they will be met with a lobby where they can relax in the spiral pit or dine at Le CREM, a restaurant furnished with red furniture and cork chairs, a reference to the wine the city is known for. Near the restaurant, a giant periscope allows visitors to see the activity in the outdoor urban room and vice-versa.
Also on the ground floor is OARA’s 250-seat theater. It features flexible seating configurations and acoustic systems optimized by an all-black checkerboard panel of concrete, wood, and perforated metal. On the second floor is an 80-seat, red-accented cinema and two production offices and project incubation areas. FRAC occupies the upper floors. These spaces include seven-meter-high exhibition spaces, production studios for artists, storage facilities, and a 90-seat auditorium and café.
Topping off the entire building is an 850-sm public roof terrace. The terrace serves as an extension of the exhibitions spaces and provides space for large-scale art installations and outdoor performances.
Related Stories
| Sep 23, 2014
Cloud-shaped skyscraper complex wins Shenzhen Bay Super City design competition
Forget the cubist, clinical, glass and concrete jungle of today's financial districts. Shenzhen's new plan features a complex of cloud-shaped skyscrapers connected to one another with sloping bridges.
| Sep 22, 2014
4 keys to effective post-occupancy evaluations
Perkins+Will's Janice Barnes covers the four steps that designers should take to create POEs that provide design direction and measure design effectiveness.
| Sep 22, 2014
Sound selections: 12 great choices for ceilings and acoustical walls
From metal mesh panels to concealed-suspension ceilings, here's our roundup of the latest acoustical ceiling and wall products.
| Sep 18, 2014
Final designs unveiled for DC's first elevated park
OMA, Höweler + Yoon, NEXT Architects, and Cooper, Robertson & Partners have just released their preliminary design proposals for what will be known as the 11th Street Bridge Park.
| Sep 16, 2014
Competition asks architects, designers to reimagine the future of national parks
National Parks Now asks entrants to propose all types of interventions for parks, including interactive installations, site-specific education and leisure opportunities, outreach and engagement campaigns, and self-led tours.
| Sep 11, 2014
5 competing designs unveiled for Presidio Parklands in San Francisco
To turn the underdeveloped area by Chrissy Field into new public space, San Francisco's Presidio Trust unveiled the five designs by five teams they invited earlier this year.
| Sep 9, 2014
Using Facebook to transform workplace design
As part of our ongoing studies of how building design influences human behavior in today’s social media-driven world, HOK’s workplace strategists had an idea: Leverage the power of social media to collect data about how people feel about their workplaces and the type of spaces they need to succeed.
| Sep 9, 2014
Ranked: Top religious sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Brasfield & Gorrie, Gensler, and Jacobs top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest religious sector design and construction firms, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Sep 7, 2014
Ranked: Top state government sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
PCL Construction, Stantec, and AECOM head BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest state government design and construction firms, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Sep 3, 2014
Ranked: Top local government sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
STV, HOK, and Turner top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest local government design and construction firms, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
