Nantes courthouse (44)

• Location: 19 quai François Mitterrand, 44000 Nantes
• Architects : Jean Nouvel
• Type of construction: refurbishment
• Installation systems : Cladding with backing structure (CWB)
• Product : RIVEN

Special features :

• The architecture is based on a square grid, a multiple of 90 cm.
• The black metal/mineral architecture was designed to reflect the island’s industrial and port history.
• This imposing institutional building blends perfectly into the Urban landscape

Although the building dates back to 2000, it was renovated by local architect Guillotin David et Associés. The facades were restored and delivered in summer 2016.

RIVEN cladding was chosen, in a hue that complements the building’s black theme. A black that illustrates “the force that is supposed to be the virtue of Justice, and which makes use of transparency through large glass walls” (Jean Nouvel). Jean Nouvel used this dominant black exterior color in a modern style, combined with the classical forms of the institutional building’s peristyle and columns.

The RIVEN finish on CAREA® cladding is perfectly in tune with the thread running through this public project, namely the need for square, mineral, black cladding. What’s more, CAREA® Mineral Composite cladding is made locally, 80 km north of Nantes.

For the base panels, the architect chose the same cladding but in a thicker version (21 mm thick) for its very high resistance to impact (Q4) and vandalism (non-porous, anti-graffiti and scratch-resistant). To go into a little more detail, the CAREA® Cladding with backing structure (CWB) system is made up of grooved slabs inserted on a network of aluminum rails, with completely invisible fixings. The CAREA® solution is particularly well-suited to difficult areas, since it is easy to maintain.

Read Jean Nouvel’s testimonial on this reference.