PLAN01 is architecture with a difference. A group of both agencies and architects, PLAN01 is an organisation unlike any other, with 10 partners, 4 associated agencies (Atelier du Pont, BP Architectures, KOZ and Atelier Philéas) and a shared workplace in the 12th Arrondissement in Paris.
Established in 2002 and unlike other architectural organisations, PLAN01 is distinguished by its innovative, multifaceted and avant-garde approach. It’s a utopian entity created by architects who all manage their own agencies.
The Group jointly puts imaginative ideas into practice and also ventures into the paralell areas of publishing, culture and events. PLAN01 always initiates their projects in segments, and always together with its 10 partners.
Rennes Métropole Crematory, at Vern-sur-Seiche, France
With its grass-covered roof and large exterior pool, the project blends into the vegetation of the landscape. It’s also an integral part of its surroundings through the use of local materials such as granite and wood. The environmental issue is treated as a springboard for innovation, as an underlying principle, not just as a ‘green veneer’.
The crematorium rises up, solemn and imposing, for all to see. Gleaming and open, it appears as a great disk floating in the middle of a forest clearing. The circular shape, symbolising the beginning and the end, is a recurrent theme throughout the spatial configuration.
The large central hall dominates the entire complex, by simultaneously incorporating the hall itself and the walkways, both overall and as part of a hierarchical system. There are no corridors but rather flowing spaces, mainly illuminated by natural light.
The rooms are linked with light and air via dedicated patios. The waiting areas are located as ante-rooms to the ceremonial rooms. Their walls are made of glass but completely hidden by translucent curtains, so that intimacy and openness can be controlled.
Via informal pathways, you gradually move from the noisy outside world into an inner silence, through ‘natural’ sounds: a man-made pool, the wind in the bamboos, birds attracted by the fruit trees, footfalls and the like.
Vendée Historical Museum
The entrance of the museum begins at the junction of two paths. Inspired by the sunken trails between the fields of rural Vendée, a footbridge crossing through the museum’s two wings creates the approach from the car park to the entrance, giving the visitor a sense of diving into the ground and the history of Vendée.
The museum is perceived from the bottom path linking it to the nearby memorial of the Vendée wars as a sequence of two pavilions punctuating a walk. By dividing the museum program in two wings, and using a compact “W” organization for the exhibition spaces, the overall build impact is diminished. The green roof’s movements and functions underneath adapt themselves to the useful volumes of the spaces they cover. The roof’s thermic inertia and its large shades protect the exhibition and conservation spaces from direct solar overheating.
[...] PLAN01/Philéas, France [...]