The ASSIA headquarters extension. Building structure in wood, concrete and glass

Located in Chartres-de-Bretagne, between a residential area and other company buildings, ASSIA, a personal care association, commissioned an extension to its headquarters: a new 3-storey volume on a 600 square meter site to the south of the existing building to which it is connected by a glass walkway

ATELIER 56S' design for the extension of the ASSIA headquarters consists of a layout that can evolve over time. A structure of wooden beams and pillars, with a regular span of 3 meters, allows for modular offices of 11 square meters each that can be grouped together to generate larger units. The offices face south to fully enjoy the exposure and are protected from direct sunlight by an external wooden sunshade mesh

The reinforced concrete core housing stairs, lifts and technical rooms contrasts pleasantly with the wooden floor of the rest of the building. The entire construction is prefabricated: both the concrete core and the CLT timber structural system

All the materials used remain deliberately explicit to state the construction methods and the different treatments. The sunshade and façade cladding are made of pre-treated wood, with five centimeter wide slats. Their appearance changes as the position of the sun changes during the day, along with the triple-glazed curtain wall that reflects the context during the day and reveals the wooden floors in the dark of the evening