Build under the reign of Napoleon in a war context, the structure of La Roche-sur-Yon is still characterized by a practical application of Vauban’s military theories. The historical center is contained inside the artificial limit of the old defensive wall, while the rest of the city is spread outside this “Pentagon”.
From 2006 to 2020, la Roche-sur-Yon is running a program to minimize this schizophrenic aspect. In 2010, the city bought at the junction between the two parts, the strategic block of the historical army hospital. Soon after a competition has been organized, programing the construction of a new cultural center in order to galvanize the exchanges. According to the urban analysis, my strategy was to recreate the dialogue by inserting the project in contradiction with the existing grid. The singularity of the position refuses the monumental scale, but fits the two paradoxical expectations of the competition : design a symbol of the new connection and bring back the human scale into the city.