Austria | Linz | Financial and commercial department | Feichtinger Architectes

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Mountainous inspiration for Rossignol world headquarters

The world headquarters of Rossignol, a leading manufacturer of skiing equipment, has been designed by Hérault-Arnod Architects and, set in the French Alps, takes inspiration from its surroundings. The ‘home of Rossignol’ brings together offices and workshops which were previously spread across the country.
The façade of the building curves upwards to form a roof over the workshops and descends on the south-western side to cover the office area. It is then broken up with shale-paved patios planted with magnolias. The roof mimics the surrounding mountainous landscape as do its elevations formed as alternating cliff faces, some sheer, some sloped, some cragged. Such is the interpretation that glacial elements are even injected as blue prismic glazing.
Inside, the building functions like a ‘hive’ in which the different activities intersect and communicate. The originality of the programme is that it unites very different functions, from production to services, under a single roof. The restaurant, situated right at the top and at the centre of gravity of the street, is designed as the primary nucleus of company life: two great glasshouses divide up the panoramic views to the sky and the mountains, on one side to the Vercors and on the other to the Chartreuse.
Only two materials have been used for the external envelope: wood (natural larch) and glass. The workshop space has a primary horizontal roof overlaid by the timber over-roof, creating a hidden space between the two which contains all the technical systems and machinery.


Laura Paton

Editorial

Fonte: World Architecture News