When we ask Christophe Balas, the architect of the Montesquieu-Volvestre health center, what inspired his first stroke of pencil for the construction project, he answers without hesitation: the Bastide. He then explains that the Bastides were built in the 13th century and that they were intended to be new towns where life was good. He notes the very ordered orthogonal space of the village and recounts how he and his team envisaged a construction having the same balance on two floors, made up of equal plots. This equality is found within the work itself; in fact the various health professionals will be housed in spaces each having the same size, making the whole thing completely egalitarian. This equality is found in the orientation, which is the same for everyone: to the south with a view of the Pyrenees. This view will be protected from high heat by a large bay.
Sun blocker. Behind the building will be all the technical rooms.
For Christophe Balas, building today also means positioning itself on bioclimatic issues, so the building will have, for example, a photovoltaic field on the roof capturing the sun and outside it will be built with a wooden frame helping to limit the carbon emitted by construction. This beautiful work, serving the health of Montesquivians, will be delivered in June 2025.
