Clément Blanchet Architecture
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Dubai 2020 French Pavilion

 

French Pavilion Dubai 2020

The French Pavilion must achieve the balance of being as much heir to a rich and complex history, as ambitious bearer of an enlightened future. French architecture, cannot be defined by a style but rather by a way of doing:- in the classical tradition - order and structure. The control of flows and interactions in the same way as the monumentality of the facade are in this consequences of a long rational process.

The project is articulated around 7 major axes of conception :

  • 1. Think the program, not the envelope: What is a universal pavilion in 2020? More than a building, this was for us, to create an experience.

  • 2. Mark the spirits: The Pavilion France presents itself as a monumental stone facade.

  • 3. Contextualize: by a simple game of rotation, the monumental facade located in the middle of plot, reveals the quality of the site.

  • 4. Managing visitor’s expectations by a passive and virtuous process : the square is first and foremost the place of collective life : access to the shop, seating for sound and light shows, temporary exhibitions, children’s games. But it is also a quiet waiting area, safe from frenzy.

  • 5. Activate the facades: the visitors enter a majestic fault, a kind of tropical Oasis in the heart of the desert. This waiting space with a thousand virtues, naturally ventilated and durable summons the beauty of the great French landscapes.

  • 6. Structuring by flows : the visitor finally enters the pavilion. All universes are positioned according to their own requirements while promoting proximity, synergies, and spatial qualities.

  • 7. A light pavilion : finally, the pavilion becomes a real device, a synthesis. Its staging, through sound and light paintings projected on its monumental facade that we contemplate, that we cross, in the side of which we shelter.

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credits

Architects: Clément Blanchet Architecture et Etienne Tricaud (AREP)
Client: COFREX
Nature of the operation: Competition
Realised in: 2018
Location: Dubai Expo 2020
Program: Pavilion. 4,000m²
Budget: 18 Million Euros


TEAM COMPOSITION

Engineers : Vinci Construction Grands Projets, TERRELL, Map 3, Franck Boutté Consultants, Les Eclaireurs.