Espace Saint Marc

The Espace St. Marc, a space for events and spectacles, is located in the winding site of Dranse. Held in between two concrete blocks, the lobby and main hall open up toward a perspective of the valley. From the interior, the windows frame, for our benefit, the contours of the landscape.

The main hall offers a 9,700-square-foot vast horizontal space capable of holding a mobile 650-seat bleacher. Different spaces annexed to this main hall (lobby, projection room, assembly hall, etc.) allow, through the different levels, a variety of multifunctional usages. The materiality of the interior is treated as light rather than color, with a combination of golden and warm tones that highlight the natural light of the whole.

The overall volume is a single prism that combines the façades and roofs in a single composition and enveloping material. The stainless steel coating, sometimes shiny and sometimes matte, creates a subtle game that interacts with the surrounding environment. The material erases itself to express and reflect the surrounding context while the folds of the roof create a playful dialogue with the distant landscape and the mountainous “skyline” characteristic of the valley.

VOLTOLINI architectures sarl & Jean Paul Chabbey architectes SA