Mutami

Description

Remarkable but not ostentatious, the new look for the head office of the Mutami health insurance company, which also houses other offices and doctors’ surgeries, is truly one of a kind!

• Year of delivery

  2019

• Location

  Toulouse France

• Architect / signatory

  cb architectes

• Project owner

  Mutami

• Installation company

  SMAC Toulouse

• Photograph

  Les yeux carrés

• Product name

  Autan XL & Zonda XL

• Product form

  Standard

• Epidermis texture

  Through body colour

• Surface appearance

  Plain natural

• Color

  02.Orange-Red

• Work

  Renovation

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© Photos sous copyright soumises à des droits d’auteur

Titre d'article

The ripples of the water, the colour of the sun

Corps d'article

Surprising, moving, vibrant... the façade created entirely from Autan XL and Zonda XL terracotta sunscreen baguettes seems quite simply to be alive. For this 1960s building in need of a more modern look, the architectural work consisted of adding a second skin to the concrete structure, which could not be modified. The sunscreen baguettes are mounted on a robust but discreet steel framework. So as not to obstruct the pavement area, the terracotta elements stop a few metres above the ground, giving the impression that they are levitating. The illusion of lightness is accentuated by undulations in the material, which is positioned in such a way as to create “waves” on the surface of the building; a nod to the Canal du Midi flowing below. Solid areas and gaps that interact with the light, creating a highly visual fluidity.
 With their reddish-orange hue, the presence of the sunscreen baguettes is enhanced by the bright orange metallic elements that support them. While the installation is ultra contemporary, the terracotta and its raw colour take centre stage, fully in keeping with the city of Toulouse. Energised, revitalised, geared towards a new future, this building is at the same time firmly seated in the timelessness of the place in which it arose.

The word of

cb architectes, Architect

Interview

Thierry Bourthoumieux, CB Architectes

“Not only was our work performed with the building still occupied and with the need to comply with fire and disability standards, we also needed to pull off quite a significant transformation across the whole of the building, which is one of the tallest in the city. It was that set of limitations that gave rise to the creation.  The façade has been applied to the monolithic building like a skin that envelops it without actually touching it: it’s almost as if I sculpted its shape around empty space! And the terracotta was a valuable ally in this work, because it offers real thickness and density. And on top of that, it is a vibrant material that will last for a very long time. Not to mention that, as a native of Toulouse, terracotta occupies a very special place in my heart: I was raised in a terracotta cradle! The challenge from a technical point of view was size, as the façade is suspended. Suspended in the air and in time, like an everlasting wave... When I look at the before and after, I realise that this project represents a complete metamorphosis, like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis!”