La Cité du Vin

La Cité du Vin – 13,350 sqm spread over ten levels – celebrates wines from around the world. It was imagined by the Parisian architecture agency XTU (Anouk Legendre and Nicolas Desmazières) and the English scenography agency Casson Mann, winners of a competition launched by the City of Bordeaux in 2010. The 55-meter building high consists of a flat base and a raised part. Its wooden frame, visible inside, is made up of 574 arches and 128 glued laminated wooden slabs.

The ceiling of the Thomas Jefferson Auditorium was decorated with hanging wooden tubes. In fact, oak veneered cardboard tubes, which were fireproofed by the application of the Euroclass B intumescent system. A technical feat.

Were fireproofed using the same process:

  • the “stars” in spruce and oak, visible in the video, which adorn the ceilings of the restaurant and the exhibition hall,
  • the walls and furniture of the library which are mainly made up of massive 3-ply spruce panels.

The 2,000 sqm of maritime pine plywood that lines the main course, including those that have been pyrographed, have bee fireproofed with the autoclave technique.

Architects : Anouk Legendre et Nicolas Desmazières – Agence X-TU

Photos : © Anaka | La Cité du Vin | X-TU Architectes