Rehabilitation of the Lemaresquier site – Cité administrative de Toulouse

The project to rehabilitate and extend the historic building designed by Architect Lemaresquier, a jewel of art deco architecture, into the Cité Administrative is the answer to the major challenge of adaptability in a constantly changing working environment. Attractive and intense, the Cité administrative must be a real address in the district. Rehabilitation is a driving force for transformation both on an urban scale and in terms of use. The project thus proposes to revive its faded image in favour of a true urban signal, offering a new flexibility inside adapted to new uses. The Cité Administrative is a symbolic and protective building: a building turned towards greater environmental and energy performance, concerned with the future and the well-being of users. “Modernity is only the soul of the past” said Paul Valéry.The enhancement of the historical axis is ensured by a visual connection between the Cité and the Guillaumet Park.

The project proposes to open up the perspective of the park towards the existing central building. Thus the landscape axis is reinforced by a transversal vision between history and nature. The building has a compact and rational form and is unstructured to be better anchored in the existing fabric and to take advantage of the environmental qualities of the site. By placing the human being at the heart of the reflection, we have actively sought to control the strong compactness and to attenuate the visual and physical impact on users, offering a density that is both pleasant to live in, efficient and attractive.

To bring nature back to the heart of the city, the project intensifies the support of vegetation, both useful and pleasant (vegetable gardens and orchards on the terraces, vegetation in the patios). A series of terraces link the floors together by an outdoor pathway, thus encouraging unexpected encounters.
In the heart of the existing building, the main reception area is housed in a generous, light-filled, cross-cutting volume offering a breathtaking view of the ZAC Guillaumet park. Accessible from the main courtyard, the lobby is designed as a warm and welcoming space on a human scale, with clear signage to easily direct visitors to the services and improve flow management. The reception hall is a real “hub” of the building, providing access to the various services and activities of the city. The renovated central building becomes the reception pavilion, with a balcony overlooking the lower ground floor below. The space is majestic and carefully restored.