LAN architecture designs minimum security prison in nanterre
all images courtesy of LAN architecture

 

 

 

LAN architecture has inserted a minimum security prison composed of a CSL (centre for parole) and SPIP (prison service and probation) into nanterre’s residential fabric. the project elevates the presence of industrial buildings that pervade the site with a punctured monolithic volume and streamlined rectilinear layout. the prisoners’ spaces are separated both actually and visually from the community with an L-shaped plan that enables the concrete envelope to remain somehow unobtrusive. the robust mass is skinned in sheet metal, lending the building a solidity that buffers both sound and sight between the confined population and inhabitants of the french town. small shutters fold or slide open to reveal offices; however, a south-facing opening renders the massive structure relatively lightweight. this void marks the entrance to the facility’s parole office, the space that both grants and manifest a version of freedom and subtle confinement. while the office is protected inside the site, choice fenestration creates an open volume and a porous skin wraps round the whole of the building.

 

 

LAN architecture designs minimum security prison in nanterre
LAN architecture inserts a minimum security prison into the nanterre community, the solid form buffers inmates and residents

 

 

LAN architecture designs minimum security prison in nanterre
form and materials were chosen based on studies of the community’s tectonics

 

 

LAN architecture designs minimum security prison in nanterre
the entrance to the parole center (CSL) is the only variation in the monolithic mass presented to the street

 

 

LAN architecture designs minimum security prison in nanterre
the PSP wraps the edge of the site, leaving a secure place inside the block for the CSL

 

 

LAN architecture designs minimum security prison in nanterre
appearing solid by day, the night reveals the facade’s porosity

 

 

LAN architecture designs minimum security prison in nanterre

 

 

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LAN architecture minimum security prison designboom
 
LAN architecture minimum security prison designboom
 

 

 

project info:

 

project: construction of a CSL (centre de semi-liberté) and an SPIP(service pénitentiaire d’insertion et de probation).
project manager: ministère de la justice, direction interrégionale des services pénitentiaires de paris – île-de-france.
location: nanterre (92)
budget: 8.15 € excl. vat
surface: 4,350 m²
timetable: 2011-2013
team: LAN architecture (architects), franck boutté (HEQ consultant), batiserf ingénierie (structure), michel forgue (quantity surveyor), nicolas ingénierie (fluids, electricity)