Wood makes you happy

Pavi­lion or club­house?

With the expan­sion of the tennis club and the cons­truc­tion of the “Salle Maurice Darbellay”, the southern French muni­ci­pa­lity of Coudoux has realized a remar­kable project that convin­cingly combines archi­tec­ture, sustaina­bi­lity and regio­na­lity. Desi­gned by Atelier Régis Roudil, the result is an under­stated, elegant timber cons­truc­tion that blends in sensi­tively with its surroun­dings and can be used for a variety of purposes.

The Salle Maurice Darbellay is located on the south-western edge of Coudoux, a French muni­ci­pa­lity with 3,700 inha­bi­tants in the Bouches-du-Rhône depart­ment in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. The buil­ding is the new center of a small sports park with five tennis courts, a hard court and a BMX track. It is located at the end of a resi­den­tial area and is bordered to the north and south by old umbrella pines. Thanks to its exposed loca­tion and open design, the buil­ding has the effect of a covered outdoor space that offers protec­tion from the sun and rain and at the same time streng­thens the connec­tion to the surroun­ding nature.

Indoors or outdoors

The Salle Maurice Darbellay was built next to the exis­ting club­house and is based on a simple but well thought-out prin­ciple: four wooden struc­tures – known as “plots” – form the struc­tural corner­stones of a rectan­gular floor plan. These support a recessed roof cons­truc­tion made of glulam.

A freely acces­sible terrace forms the recessed southern end towards the tennis courts.

The hall itself is free of supports, crea­ting a gene­rous, flexible space. Large, folding sliding doors on the north and south sides allow complete opening to the outside. Inte­rior and exte­rior space have a lot in common here.

Wood and produc­tion

The choice of mate­rials is parti­cu­larly important: Pin d’Alep (Aleppo pine) was used throug­hout for the cons­truc­tion, façade and inte­rior design – a local wood that had long disap­peared from the cons­truc­tion industry. This project revives a regional value chain: the wood comes from surroun­ding forests and was processed in the region.

The walls consist of wooden frames with wood fiber insu­la­tion, the roof cons­truc­tion of prefa­bri­cated wooden cassette elements. The façade was clad with pre-greyed wood in cover strip form­work. The inte­rior furni­ture such as the counter and shelves are also made of Aleppo pine.

The struc­ture rests on a concrete base that is 40 cm above the ground – enough to serve as seating at the edge of the pitch. The adjoi­ning terraces and ramps are also made of exposed concrete and are bordered by natural stone walls made of Vers-Pont-du-Gard.

Archi­tec­ture and loca­tion

The project is a fine example of archi­tec­ture that is in dialog with its loca­tion. It follows the prin­ciple of mate­rial reduc­tion, uses local resources and shows how public buil­dings in rural contexts can be imple­mented in a way that is ambi­tious in terms of design and at the same time func­tional, econo­mical and ecolo­gi­cally respon­sible.

With the “Salle Maurice Darbellay”, Coudoux has gained a new place for sport, meetings and commu­nity – and at the same time a strong archi­tec­tural state­ment for contem­po­rary, sustainable cons­truc­tion in wood.