Paris studio Lemoal Lemoal has used hempcrete blocks to build the Pierre Chevet sports centre in France, which the studio believes is the country's first public building built from the biomaterial.
Named Pierre Chevet, the 380 square-metre sports hall is located in the town of Croissy-Beaubourg near Paris.
The sports hall has hempcrete block walls
Lemoal Lemoal used the building as an opportunity to experiment with hemp as a construction material.
The sports centre contains an exercise hall and changing rooms. Its walls are infilled with hempcrete blocks constructed by cement manufacturer Vicat.
The blocks were made from lime mixed with hemp hurds. These are the woody inner parts of the stems of the hemp plant and are also known as shives. The sports hall has a half vaulted structural system
The exterior of the building is clad in white, cement-fibre panels that protect the hemp blocks.
Inside, the building has a wooden, half-vaulted structure that is adjoined to the hempcrete walls for support and provides the interior space with a column-free interior.
"The structure is a mix of timber and hempcrete blocks, wooden half-vaulted porticoes lean against a wall of hempcrete blocks for support," the architect told Dezeen.
"This combination frees a maximum of space for practising sports, and allows large opening of two facades to the public space."
Walls were half rendered revealing the hempcrete blockwork
Lower sections of the walls were treated with hemp ...