“Le Pont des Arts” in Marcq-en-Baroeul

The project consists of the construction of a cinema complex with 3 screening rooms, 1 rehearsal room and 1 festive room in Marcq en Baroeul, France. The main building material used for the shell is concrete. The structural elements remain mostly visible. The first floor terrace, used as an open-air cinema, has a 4 metre overhang. The initial concept of the bureau Greisch consisted in making this slab in post-stressed cast-in-place concrete. The soil being of poor quality, a system of foundations on piles was implemented.

Most of the structure is made of reinforced concrete of varying qualities, partly precast and partly cast in situ. The load-bearing walls are mainly made of cast-in-place concrete walls. The floors are mainly composed of precast prestressed concrete perforated slabs covered with a reinforced compression screed. The role of this screed is to ensure, on the one hand, the proper resistance of the floor and, on the other hand, the transfer of horizontal loads to the cores and the load-bearing walls (diaphragm effect). However, some slabs are cast in situ (slabs in the main core), formworked in situ or with precast slabs. The floor support beams are made of reinforced concrete. To limit the ceiling spans, some concrete beams have been replaced by steel beams.

A large proportion of the structural elements are made of visible concrete with no added finishes. The quality of visible concrete is subject to high aesthetic expectations.