Rennes studio Atelier L2 has installed 20 wooden boxes as modular units for shops, exhibitions and hospitality businesses inside Ateliers des Capucins, a covered square in a 19th-century arsenal in Brest, France.
The Ateliers des Capucins has been shortlisted for a Dezeen Awards 2020 in the large workspace interior category.
The studio's brief was to design a number of shells in order to create an interior street with two floors inside the historical arsenal building, covering 5,000 square metres.
Top: the project is located inside the 10,000 square-metres former arsenal. Above: Units with gabled roofs are slotted into the ceiling
Atelier L2 used laminated veneer lumber (LVL) for the shells, which were designed to stand out against the metal structure and pitched glass roof of the 10,000 square-metres Ateliers des Capucins. Each wooden shell measures between 150 and 400 square metres, with some of the concept stores in the space using more than one.
Some facades are as tall as 13 metres
"In this way, the client would be able to find buyers who could convert each 'box' to complete the cultural and service offer," Atelier L2 co-founder Pierre Lelièvre told Dezeen.
The boxes are a permanent fixture of the Ateliers des Capucins ? which functions as a large, covered market space ? and can't be moved.
"Even though their appearance suggests it, the 'boxes' are absolutely fixed and cannot be moved under any circumstances," Lelièvre said.
"Their technical ...