It is about thirty kilometers from Paris, in the quiet town of Pontoise that ateliers o-s architectes just completed the Cordeliers community center and its nursery. Bordered by a vast park in the south and suburban housing in the north, the new ensemble engages in a dialogue with what has always been there. Architecture and context mutually highlight each other, the environment contributes to define the lines of the building, which in return opens up to the scenery.

Relatively low and compact, the building is both discrete and rigorous while expressing values of hospitality and openness through interstices and behind-the scenes effects. As you get closer to it, a myriad of juxtaposed volumes gradually shifting from the street are revealed, giving the building its right scale and putting it into perspective in its composite context. If at first sight it appears to be a parallelepiped volume with a unitary character, the building is more facetious than it looks: a curve marks the entrance to the nursery while a pleat reveals the hall of the community center, mashrabiyas delicately unveil the interiors and a bias draws a convergence line towards the public garden.