Bird s eye view looking towards the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenn

© Sébastien Bechet

the South fa

Once passed a steel footbridge and a covered porch, the entrance is an outside space inside the building, open on the landscape

Natural linght is everywhere in the wooden volume of the museum where visitors discover the specific ecology of the park

A light and clear structure of wood and steel assembles the flood gate chamber and the belvedere. From the in-between loggia, starts another ramp leading to the park.

The North fa

The three levels of the building : from the roof with the ramp and the belvedere, to the ground level and the flood gate chamber

Two axonometric views of the wood structure

The Izadia nature reserve re-establishes the dune environment of the Anglet cost in Pyrénées-Atlantique.
Interdependent of the urban surroundings, it bring together scientific research, ecological policy and educational recreation. The center reflects this intention. On the Barre site, this expanded 100 metre « beam » along the river Adour is a clear boundary in relation to the contrasted landscapes from west to east. It is first and foremost a structure opened to life, wind, rain and sun, mainly built in natural wood without treatment (Douglas pine and larch). A Saint Andrew’s cross Douglas pine beam sits atop stilts, lightening its relation with the ground. « Nothing is touched », nothing on land is disturbed, since it is connected to the ground by catwalks or pilotis The reinforcement of the structure is braced by a delicate metal structure whinch lincks it to the open-worked Small timber bean roofing (a pergola limiting the zinc roof overheating). The building is a jetty, a pathway, a journey.

Its three levels (the lower ground level of the flood gate chamber, the ground level of the entrance, and the belvedere level) are only linked by two ramps and a staircase. No elevator (as well as no air conditionning system thanks to a bioclimatic conception) to obtain an energy performance of the building generates on open structure. Reading the Centre as a section, one understands the exchange between architecture and nature which can in no sense be confined to ressemblance. The Izadia centre is a covered enclosure. It is an open, cantilevered structure full of vitality, a construction of empty space and a shelter.

Exhibition and presentation halls (only 400 m2 including offices) follow on from each other in the expense of the trail-centre. Protected and open, lit with natural light and sheltered, the rooms with a view maintain their sense of interior. Final energy consumptions are 62,6 kWhEP/m2 for all consumptions : heating, hot water, ventilation, lighting and scenography, and 31,1 kWhEP/m2 without scenography.