Le Studio Architects:Our mission in this project is to design a pavilion that serves as an information and pastoral center for parishioners and visitors to the St. Joseph Cathedral. The main functionalities include a reception area, a bookstore, and a gift shop.
Having said that, being in such a symbolic location, this project requires us to pay more attention to other aspects. A dialogue between the old and the new is inevitable, together with the religious spirit of the building. Furthermore, the dual characteristic of classical Catholicism needs to be amplified in this otherwise purely functional project, while refusing to repeat its inherent symbols. With this approach, a system of opposing, dichotomous pairs was studied and established: high-low, big-small, solid-hollow, main-supplementary, yin-yang, complete-incomplete, fixed-fluid, heavy-light, visible-hidden, materialistic-ethereal … creating special bonds between the new structure and the existing architectural ensemble in the vicinity. This system is materialized by conventional architecture solutions (mainly glass and steel, with the existing vegetation, mostly retained, interwoven in the new structure with varied and shrink basilica form).