Shipyard
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A little more patience! The Château de Villers-Cotterêts will soon be ready to welcome the Cité internationale de la langue française, following major restoration and development work. Enter the backstage of this exceptional project...
The restoration project
Multiple expertises
The Center des monuments nationauxthe project owner, has entrusted the project management to Olivier Weets, chief architect of historic monuments.
His mission? To carry out the restoration work, to document the history of the castle, to clean the 16th century sculptures, to restore - using ancestral know-how - the floors, roofs, Renaissance staircases...
The agency Projectiles Projectiles, which has already worked at the Château de Fontainebleau, the Château de Versailles and the Musée d'histoire maritime de Saint-Malo, is in charge of the interior design and scenography of the permanent tour of the French language.
© Pierre-Olivier Deschamps – Agence Vu’ / Centre des monuments nationaux
An operation in several phases
The operation is organized in four phases:
- The first, which began in January 2020, includes cleaning and demolition work, restoration of the facades and roofs, and structural repairs.
- The second, which began in September 2020, focuses on the restoration of the interiors, the scenographic development and the redesign of the exterior spaces, in particular the queen's garden, located to the east of the dwelling.
- The third, launched in January 2021, concerns the restoration of the facades and roofs of the three wings of the Cour des Offices, as well as the kitchens and the drying room.
- The fourth is the creation of a parking area around the site.
© Pierre-Olivier Deschamps – Agence Vu’ / Centre des monuments nationaux
Bringing the past to life: the restoration approach
The restoration favors the original Renaissance elements as well as the contributions of the 17th and especially the 18th century, which earned the monument its classification as a historical monument in 1997.
The project therefore consists in highlighting these architectural elements, in particular
- the remarkable Renaissance decorations in the south wing of the Royal Logis: the King's staircase, the Queen's staircase and the chapel, which has regained its original volume;
- the original spaces, which are particularly spacious and open onto the courtyard and the park thanks to their large windows;
- the exteriors of the Logis Royal, restored to their late eighteenth-century state;
- the Jeu de Paume building, restored to its original state, while the interior will be converted into an auditorium.
© Pierre-Olivier Deschamps – Agence Vu’ / Centre des monuments nationaux
Discover the restoration project in pictures
The architectural project
Modular spaces
Modularity and versatility will be the key words for the future spaces of the Cité! They will be able to adapt to the rhythms and needs of the program and accommodate a large number of activities.
The auditorium to be installed in the Jeu de Paume building will be multifunctional and usable in different configurations (flat, 150 seats, 250 seats), just as the residents' workshops on the second floor of the Logis Royal will be able to accommodate all types of artistic practices.
© Atelier Projectiles
When contemporary creation meets heritage
Get ready to be amazed! At the heart of the Logis Royal, the courtyard of the Jeu de Paume, topped by a large glass roof, will provide a central space, a veritable "agora" around which the various activities of the Cité on the first floor will be distributed (temporary exhibitions, bookstore-boutique, educational and training spaces, café-tea room, etc.) and which can also be used for cultural events.
Designed by Olivier Weets, the glass roof will be completed with a " lexical sky " created by the Atelier Projectiles and made up of a set of suspended words, casting their shadow during the day and lighting up at night. The inhabitants of Villers-Cotterêts and future visitors to the Cité were involved in the choice of these words during participatory workshops. Through this creation, the language will be invited to fully invest the courtyard and to impregnate the body of the building!
Cleverly positioned, this contemporary creation will integrate harmoniously into the building: invisible from the outside of the dwelling, it will leave a clear view from the attic.
© Olivier Weets / Atelier Projectiles / CMN
A building open to its territory
One of the objectives of the architectural project is to reopen the monument to its environment by creating a passage through the site. Thanks to this strong urbanistic choice, which revives the original architectural intention, inhabitants and visitors will be able to freely cross the site to go to the city on the south side or to the forest of Retz, so dear to François I, on the north side.
© Olivier Weets architecte SARL, architecte en chef des monuments historiques
The subject file
