ARCHITECTURAL FOCUS
LES FORGES
KNOWLEDGE CENTRE FOR INNOVATION
This building is one of the main wings of the former Saint-Etienne arms factory . This industrial estate was built in 1864 . It covers an area of twelve hectares to the north of the city centre . Designed in the spirit of the rationalist architecture of the 18th century , such as Claude Nicolas Ledoux ’ s saltworks or the Grand-Hornu near Mons , the factory is an industrial and military “ palace ” composed of white stone and red brick . It embodies the aesthetic ideal of an era intoxicated by the fortunes generated by the industrial revolution .
It is also an emblematic site in the history of the city , whose conversion into a creative district hosts prestigious programmes such as the Cité du Design and university branches as well as the Centre des Savoirs pour l ’ Innovation ( CSI ).
Here , the meeting of the industrial architectural heritage with the world of culture and knowledge of today has undeniably generated a “ genius loci ».
“ Les Forges ” is the building that forms the eastern facade of the former industrial city . The neoclassical building was a 135 m long workshop that was 22 m high . The decline of the factory led to its final closure in 1989 . The entire site was abandoned to the wonderful fate of wasteland before being listed as a historical monument in 2006 . The forge is one of the elements that will have waited the longest for its reconversion . It endured almost 30 years of abandonment and even burned down in part . All that remained of it were four deteriorated facades , the main one of which was gutted out .
THE CHALLENGE
The CSI was set as close as possible to the remains of the Forges workshop . Because the program was larger than the existing building , a third of the requested areas exceeded its capable volumes ; a third was to submerge above its bourgeois cornices .
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