Kinetic Wave

Like a rounded prow turned toward the city to the north, the AFPA office building announces the "heroic mission" of an institute for the continuous education for thousands of citizens.
With a great economy of means, Michel Rémon has adorned the site's reception area with "outward signs of wealth" that highlight the approach for interns and trainers by welcoming them with "much tenderness and consideration".

On the AFPA building at the tip of the block, a clever vignette of black and white brick veneer panels creates an oblique notched pattern, quite original in the landscape. This facing gives rise to a surprising kinetic wave that can be seen from afar accompanied by the large curved windows on the end of the building.

Inside the transparent reception hall, a cement floor recalls that of the workshops, creating a unity of place, a large chandelier, a stairway uncoiling like a reptile, a beautifully dimensioned restaurant and an internal garden .... the generous setting fully restores nobility to the training process.

To the east and west, industrial and tertiary sector workshops frame the reception and training building. Their extreme architectural simplicity unifies their volumes, especially since their roof layouts are built geometrically from a single "V" shape. The administration building designed as a "corner" avoids any disproportion by affirming a vertical at the entrance to the school, acting as a counterpoint to the horizontal roofs of the workshops.

"This new public building becomes the key element in the recent urban development of the town of Balma. It replaces the old AFPA building, which, like the Toulouse ENSIACET, was located in the district hit by the terrible explosion at the AZF plant in 2001."