Alpha Media Library (Exterior) , Angoulême

Inspired by the Scandinavian model, this buil­ding ushers in a new gene­ra­tion of cultu­ral spaces where people can come toge­ther, meet others, exchange ideas, learn new things, be enter­tai­ned – what we call third spaces. Neutral and open to all mem­bers of the public, regard­less of age, this typo­logy of space is des­ti­ned to erase social-cultu­ral divi­sions and blur the boun­da­ries bet­ween the public and the pri­vate, the col­lec­tive and the indi­vi­dual. The third space, an idea deve­lo­ped in the 1980s by Urban Sociology Professor Ray Oldenburg, is dis­tin­gui­shed from the ​“first space”, the home, and the ​“second space”, the work­place. The buil­ding desi­gned by loci anima for the town of Angoulême has mul­tiple facades and forms a ​“com­pass-like view point”, poin­ting to Angoulême’s major land­marks. Made up of five colo­red paral­le­le­pi­peds, cle­verly piled one on top of the other, the media library forms an A that can be seen from the high­point of the town: A for Alpha, and A for Angoulême. Each of the five ​“worlds” that make up the buil­ding is pain­ted in the color of the metal of the celes­tial body asso­cia­ted with it. So, the ​“create” world is gold, asso­cia­ted with the Sun. The ​“unders­tand” world is sil­ver for the Moon. The ​“ima­gine world is bronze and evokes Jupiter. Venus and cop­per oxide are asso­cia­ted with ​“from one world to the next”. Finally, the ​“worlds’ fac­tory” is anthra­cite, paying homage to Saturn and to lead. There are also conno­ta­tions of the ima­gi­nary world of child­hood in the design of the fur­ni­ture: geo­me­tric, fun and func­tio­nal, it is adap­ted to the dif­ferent uses that the media library offers. On all levels, the spaces are exten­ded out­doors by ter­races or by the gar­den, for indoor/​outdoor living, taking advan­tage of natu­ral light, ope­ning up or clo­sing off in accor­dance with the heat and light nee­ded and desi­red.