bozin vs szekely architects



international graphic center

location: France, Chaumont

The city of Chaumont will become the international symbol of the Graphic Art. The visual perception of the Graphic Art Center is that of a massive cubic volume, divided in four modules which take the main visual and physical directions of the city. The message of the graphic art is a social one. This led to create a meeting place like a "plazza" for exchanging ideas and projection of the artists works. The density of the city is increasing on the west-east direction from the viaduct towards the Graphic Center until the old side of the city. This direction was fundamental since historical times. A strong line is plotted in the old city and it is reinforced by the railway and the highway that make the connection with Paris and Basel. The new cultural equipment will be important to revitalize the neighbourhood and also the urban scale of its location. The organization of the project will be connected with the design of the public space in the complex context of the city. Each volume represents a different space. There is the reception and the artist ateliers, the exhibition module, the visual art module and the cinema and projection space. The main module of the reception is situated in the middle and controls the circulation in the rest of the building. The directions of the four volumes of the Center are as important for the ground level as for the visual rapport with the city. From the terrace of the top floor the landscape is framed by holes of different measures giving certain diversity on the perception. The solution is linked to a landscape approach that gives a new character to the fragmented space of the island. I propose a gradual passage through the site of the station, from mineral landscape to a natural one.













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