Center hospitalier Michel Mazeas - Douarnenez: a metamorphosis combining new services and image

The renovation and extension process is the fruit of a global vision of the entire site, so as to build a coherent image that reflects the activity and the modern, caring image to which every hospital aspires. This image has to be considered at all levels: integration with the site, architectural, functional, interior design, landscape, applied visual communication, etc. By treating the project as a coherent whole, from this global perspective, A26's proposal won the approval of the tender jury.

Featuring a new façade with a strong sense of overall transparency, the long rectangle of the upper ground floor acts as a signal for the entrance to the hospital. A26's architects have succeeded in creating a new, slimmer, calmer image that contrasts with the massiveness of the original building, without wiping the slate clean of previous architectural interventions, but ensuring greater cohesion of the built ensemble. A deliberately contemporary building, with a soft, calm architecture, sits delicately on the ground, facing the entrance to the plot and offering a natural perception of a main access.

The landscaping helps to improve the overall environment, reducing the anxiety-inducing nature of a visit to the hospital. The consultation department is located on the garden level, in a direct environment planted with trees. Vehicle parking remains on the periphery of the site, creating no visual, olfactory or safety inconvenience at the foot of the facades. Integrating plants in the immediate vicinity of spaces dedicated to human activity brings users closer to nature. In addition, the central patio has been completely redeveloped, with landscaping designed to enhance both patient comfort (level access for the cardio-vascular rehabilitation unit) and the visual amenity of all the other services around it.