Location: Jonzac, France.

Architect: Tetrarc.

The Haute Saintonge Congress Centre was designed by TETRARCArchitect, with Michel Bertreux and Daniel Caud as project directors, Rémi Tymen as project manager, and Louise Follin as landscape designer. The Centre was created to combine business, cultural, and leisure activities on a single site, complementing the range of existing facilities and representing a unique catalyst for dynamic development. The building was designed as a monolith half-embedded in the valley landscape, with a grand circulation gallery that puts the building’s visitors on show. The seminar space is located on the west side of the building, with beautiful natural light and a view of the exterior vegetation. The large multifunction hall, called the “Agora,” can accommodate up to 416 people in a company convention, conference, or congress, with comfortable folding tiered seating. The hall can also be used for trade shows, organized events, event celebrations, dating forums, debates, and major commemorative or family ceremonies. Large curtains contribute to acoustic comfort while allowing users to conceal the opening to the excavated limestone steps that form a small open-air theatre. The Centre has to fulfil a number of requirements, including expressing the dynamic nature of the region, underlining the exceptional character of a major public facility, making use of its architectural style to represent the type of facility that is used by managers of companies and organizations who choose to meet there, and acquiring a distinctive personality of its own without rivalling the iconic image of Les Antilles. The Centre was designed to fit into this perspective with visible long-term architectural quality, while also rooting it firmly in its regional setting so that this spirit is conveyed to those who visit.

Photo credit: Charly Broyez.