Architect
High Court
Paris - France
Project on the new law court of Paris Licence 3 Studio Masséna
Exercise of four months, this project is an answer to the international ideas competition for the establishment of the Paris new Law Court located on the Tolbiac-Halle Freyssinet site (Urban Development Zone Paris Rive gauche - 13th district of Paris).
The subject is based on the development of the Halle Freyssinet, heritage of the XXth century. Its reconversion participates in the implementation of the program of 100 000 m2. Exceptional equipment, the future court will become a new Parisian monument.
How to conjugate a symbolic meaningful representation and an institutional complex functioning ?
As a metaphor of the fortified castle, the court is organized inside three surrounding walls. The first one, the wide inaccessible forest which surrounds the court separates the internal space of the outside context. The concrete structure of the hall is maintained and welcomes a glass box. As the court public place, it includes the reception and the public lobby. This second space symbolizes the transparency of the justice. Finally, the third surrounding wall is realized by the opaque walls covered with basalt which contain the heart of the court.
Courtrooms are situated in both monoliths on the West. Their internal spatiality translates the complexity of the organization of the flows of such an institution. The public, the magistrates and the accused are brought to go to the same place without ever meeting.
The administrative tower, in the East, draws up its 300 meters. Overhanging the district, it becomes the emblem of the Law Court.
