
Centre des congrès et parc d’expositions du Carré des Docks
LOCATION:
Le Havre (FR)
ARCHITECT:
Richez Associes / Tomas Richez + Paul Andreu Architecte Paris
THEATRE CONSULTANT:
Ducks Sceno
MODEL:
Space Max
MORE INFO:
www.ducks.fr (theatre consultant)
www.richezassocies.com (architect)
www.dockslehavre.com (client)
www.hugon-tribunes.fr (telescopic tribune)
In 1815, Le Havre become the first French port of trade of tropical commodities (coffee, cotton, spices, wood…) but soon after the city discovered a new type of construction: the Docks. Built around a basin according to the English model, they hosted for 150 years the goods that made the reputation of Le Havre trade. But this trade would gradually abandon the Docks to settle on other sites. Long abandoned, the Docks reborn in 2009 thanks to the architects Reichen and Robert that transformed the old customs warehouses of the port in a pole of commerce and recreation.
The transformation of the area between the Paul Vatine Basin and the Saint-Nicolas districts into a congress and exhibition center is both a subject of architecture and an urban subject. The program involved the reorganisation of three huge pavilions of the Docks Café and the construction of two buildings for the reception and offices connected with the impressive congress center of 14,000 m2.
There you can find 2,100 Space Max seats & 230 freestanding Space Max Matrix: all manufactured in three shade colours of Camira Urban specifically created for this project using Trevira CS thread. Most of these chairs are located in an impressive 3 body telescopic tribune manufactured by Hugon Tribunes that makes the hall unique.The folding mechanisms that operate the chairs are semi automatic: benches of up to 8 units that are easy & fast to operate thanks to the gas struts located in their fixing plates. Meanwhile, the specifications of the telescopic tribunes delivered allow different configurations and uses for the venue within minutes. All chairs supplied were manufactured with shared arm – no duplicated arms either for the retractable or freestanding versions.