Located next to an expressway, the Technical Center of Blagnac was built in the middle of a neighborhood characterized by a highly industrialized program. Nevertheless, a classified forest and a cemetery are located just next to the site. These elements constitute the principal specificity of this program. The architectural and urban will aim to constitute a real urban piece, able to create a strong entrance to this area and able to dialogue with its environment. The idea is to establish a visual identity while answering the main objectives of the program.

The building opens a double dialogue with the landscape. His position constitutes an envelope with the site, minimizing the incoming nuisances and ensuring a sound protection. The ground floor was treated in a unit way and accommodates the activities of the technical center (workshops, storage spaces). The upper part is the cradle of the offices and the places of life of the municipal staff. The façade is made of Equitone fiber-cement panels which create a double skin. The slope and the perforations of these aim to obtain technical and acoustic performances able to offer comfort to the offices. This device gives the opportunity to create a large terrace linked with spaces of relaxation and restoration and create an accessible and convivial place.

The aspect generated by the form and materials used enters in dialogue with the surrounding landscape, breaking with the usual image of a technical center.

The project seeks to fit carefully in the site, as a topographic line which would come to be folded up to constitute interiority and at the same time offer a true urban frontage guarantor of its insertion in the territory.

Data Sheet

Project name: Technical Center of Blagnac

Location: ZAC Andromède – Blagnac (France)

Architects: Elodie NOURRIGAT/Jacques BRION – NBJ Architectes

Associated architects: Tryptique

Owner: City of Blagnac

Project area: 6 000 square meters

Project ending: 2017

Cost: 7,8 M € (excluding tax)

About NBJ architects 

Created back in 2000 by Elodie Nourrigat and Jacques Brion, the N+B office became NBJ architects in 2013. 

NBJ practices the diversity of interventions based on the personal paths of the associates and the skills of each employee. This system allows for a commitment in architecture, urban planning, education, research, innovation and architectural diffusion. This method of collective and proven work is present throughout the production process thanks to a personalized approach to each project and owner. The objective is the success of operations through the implementation of pragmatic and operational innovations based on an understanding of needs, analysis of constraints, issues and sharing of the project throughout an ongoing dialogue. Thus, every project inscribed in different scales, whether architectural or urban, is developed with the same attention and nourished by these reflective, operational and collaborative practices.