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Innovation Muuk
By : Muuk Architecture
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 17th edition
Discipline : Architecture
Categories : Special Award / Architecture + Models and Renderings : Bronze Certification
Categories : Special Award / Sustainable Architecture : Bronze Certification
Categories : Other categories in architecture / Concept & Unbuilt : Silver Certification
BIOTOPIA
A plot of land, just across the street. In the Bromont Technology Park, where the energy of advanced research and the effervescence of the « quantum » can be felt even in protected natural spaces.
This meadow, planted with trees and shrubs, is the perfect setting for a new project.
This shrubby meadow has been chosen as the site for office space and light industry (in which the new offices of the Muuk firm will be housed).
The project was dreamed up by the entire team, in weekly brain-storming sessions over many months, and everyone’s ideas were listened to, noted down, and lashed together to make a coherent whole.
All this, at the heart of an approach based on certain precepts of the « Living Future Institute », an extremely rigorous organization dedicated to environmental causes. It’s a project that aims to express a balance between the built and the living.
Thinking has led to the creation of a flexible overall project, unfolding into a harmonious whole. Eventually, there will be 2 buildings, made up of several identical units (the cubes!) Clad in metal and eastern white cedar planks that will take on the patina of time, the materials evoke the site’s agricultural history, while tying in with the technological avant-garde of the innovation zone.
Anchored, integrated and integrated into the surrounding environment, the new building will be an integral part of the local community.
Anchored, integrated, yet simple and luminous, each cube, in this place of nature and horizon, will become an alchemical crucible.
The project unfolds according to the criteria-types of a biophilic approach.
Visual connection with nature
-A central visual breakthrough is created in the open space between the buildings. This transparency offers a direct view (to the northwest) of the savannah, of the grasses dancing in the wind…
Invisible link with nature
-Aural experience: birdsong, wind rustling in the leaves
Thermal variations and air renewal
-Subtle variations in temperature, humidity, and air flow, thanks to the density and diversity of plant types: the savannah at the back, the damp, cool Dozois stream, the more « organized » plantings on the site
Presence of water
-Evocation of water through dry river and rain garden
Link with natural systems
Awareness of natural processes and seasonal changes. « Ah, the bustards are back! »
Biomorphic shapes and patterns
Outdoor lighting created for the occasion, evoking fern fronds unfurling in fractal structure.
Material link with nature
-Use of materials linked to local geology, through the presence of the « portal » rocks, sourced from local quarries.
Complexity and order
-The « wilder » aspects of the landscaping alongside the more domesticated elements of the site evoke complexity and order, nature and architecture.
Perspective
Open views, from the majority of the rental suites, over the meadow and groves of trees. Magnificent opportunity to watch, among other things, the sunset
Refuge
-Porch: creation of a partial refuge, under the entrance porch. A space with a bench, protected on three sides, inviting people to rest and meet
Mystery
-The presence of the large rocks, the butons lining the front courtyard, as well as the winding path (which inserts itself between the rocks) incites curiosity, and adds a certain « mystery »
Risk
-Presence of large flat stones to cross the river (dry)
OASIS MULTIFUNCTIONS
The heart of the site is the oasis, which unfolds in a pathway featuring three distinct and diversified zones, allowing users to choose the space corresponding to their needs.
A trail as well as a « dry river » cross the oasis.
It invites you to step beyond the gate, explore the rain garden terrace, discover the « skating rink ». Then, why not, access the backyard, a less structured and more natural place, open to the bike path, the Dozois stream, the wild meadow… nature.
Collaboration
