Atelier International De l ́Architecture Construite

AIAC
Mezos 2024
GUIDELINE AND PROGRAMME
AIAC
CONTENT Overview
1. About AIAC 2024
2. About Mezos town
3. About the project area
4. Common objectives
Detailed design tasks
Project 1: Mezos – Heart of town
1. Project location
2. Nature et objectives
3. Construction scale
4. Programme
Project 2 : Beguinage
1. Project location
2. Nature et objectives
3. Construction scale
4. Programme
Annexs
1. Current situation
2. Render elements
3. Layout
AIAC
1. About AIAC 2024

AIAC (Atelier International d'Architecture

Construite) was founded in 1999 to develop an
architectural design pedagogy that meets the
challenges and needs of global connectivity in the
built environment. It is a collaboration between
outstanding architecture schools from around the
world to share their experiences on joint design
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projects every year. Students from partner schools

collaborate to study the cultural field at a specific
location and exchange ideas for the design and
exhibition of their proposals. The winning works
are selected by an international jury.
O V E R V I

With 2024, AIAC returns to France, in the small

town of Mezos, Aquitaine region. With creative
ideas from students and professors from
prestigious architecture universities around the
world, we hope to provide interesting and at the
same time achievable projects. High competition,
adapted to the particular context of this city.
AIAC 2. About Mezos town

Urban analysis

Mézos is a commune in the South-West of

France, located in the department of Landes
(Nouvelle-Aquitaine region). It belongs to the
Pays de Born.
The Landes is a department in the south-
west of France. The Landes department is
part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It
borders the departments of Gironde, Lot-et-
Garonne, Gers and Pyrénées-Atlantiques,
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and is bathed by the Atlantic Ocean along a

sandy coast of 106 km lined with high dunes.
The Landes forest is the largest forest in
France. The main species is maritime pine.
But the Landes forest does not occupy the
entire area. To the south of the department,
O V E R V I

beyond the Adour, is the Chalosse, a more

hilly and green country, agricultural land
shared between cattle and duck farming and
corn cultivation, as well as the Tursan
vineyard to the east.

Mézos is a rural commune, because it is part

of the municipalities little or very little dense,
in the sense of the communal grid of density
of INSEE. The town is also off attraction of the
cities.
AIAC
2. About Mézos town

Land use

The municipality’s land use is marked by the importance of forests and semi-natural environments (91.8% in 2018). The detailed distribution in 2018 is as follows:
forests (46.6%), shrub and/or herbaceous vegetation (45.2%), heterogeneous agricultural areas (4.6%), urbanized areas (2.1%), arable land (1.5%).
Changes in land cover can be seen on the following maps:
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O V E R V I

Map of Mézos, the Etat Major (1820-1866) Mao of Mézos in 1950 Aerial photography of Mézos in 2021
AIAC 2. About Mézos town

Historical

The department of Landes was created during the French Revolution, from part of the province of Guyenne and Gascogne. This gives this territory a certain heterogeneity
between the agricultural Chalosse, rather turned towards the Béarn, and the forest closer to the Gironde.

At the beginning of the contemporary era (1789-1850), the department was partly covered with moors that gave it its name, while the southern fringe was made up of hills
with rich, cultivated and wooded soils.
Before the law on sanitation and cultivation of the Landes de Gascogne of 1857, the livestock and agricultural regime is widespread. The systematization of pine plantations
(exploited for their resin and wood), accompanied by the sale of municipalities during the second half of the nineteenth century, changed the landscape and economy of
two thirds of the department, while contributing to its rapid enrichment.
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O V E R V I

The trace of Mézos in history is very old. The first The village of Mezos was served by the The medieval castle of Castéja was built on a The church of Saint
documents that quote precisely Mézos date from Landes railway network feudal mound. It is located on the borders of Jean-Baptiste de Mézos,
the 13th century, but the village already existed Mézos and Saint-Julien en Born. built in garluche, stone
in the 11th century (construction of the chapel of typical of the region,
Saint-Pierre). was built in the 14th
century. It was included
in the Inventory of
Historic Monuments in
1969.
AIAC 2. About Mézos town

Demography

The population of Mezos has been quite constant since the end
of the 18th century, when the first census surveys were
conducted. In 1793, the village had 961 inhabitants. It now has
841. However, the population increased around the 1860s,
when the village had 1800 inhabitants.

Economy

The main economies of the region are agriculture and tourism.

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The municipality hosts a 34 MWp photovoltaic park developed

by Valorem. Located on an old forest devastated by the Klaus
storm of 2009, its funding is open to SEM (Search Engine
Marketing) in the area.
O V E R V I

Environnement

Mézos is a village in the green Landes 14 km from the beaches

of the Ocean, near the river Courlis, furrowed with 50 km of
water, you can see small streams in the immediate vicinity of
the agglomeration. The town is in the heart of a pine forest of
9000 ha. The territory of the municipality of Mézos is
vulnerable to various natural hazards: weather (storm, storm,
cold, heat or drought), forest fires.

The town is exposed to an oceanic climate and is in the climatic

region Littoral charentais and aquitain, characterized by high
rainfall in autumn and winter, good sunshine, mild winter
(6.5°C), and subject to sea breeze.
AIAC 3. About the project area

Mézos is a small town located in the

department of les Landes in Nouvelle-
Aquitaine, south-west of the French
Republic. Like all cities in the region, the
small town of MEZOS is developed by
isolated buildings, not connected, nor
forming any urban fabric.

In the City of Mezos, we are planning two

housing projects to create community
connection points and increase urban
interaction:
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Project 1: Mézos – Heart of town

Project 2: Beguinage
O V E R V I

4. Common Objectives

 Both projects create urban building

complexes that have both a housing
function and a center connecting
urban spaces.

 The common goal is to create works

that enable common economic and
social activities, connecting and
increasing interaction within the
community.
AIAC
Project 1: Mézos – Heart of town
1. Project location
 Location: located west of the town of Mezos, limited as follows:
 North and East borders are Avenue de l’Ocean
 South and west adjacent to vacant lots

2. Nature and objectives

At the intersection of two roads crossing the city, in front of the city hall, with
the possibility of available land, it is planned to create a program: housing, Heart of town– Study perimeter Heart of town– Built condition
C O N C E P T I O N TA S K S

and spaces that can accommodate shops or services as well as parking.

The objective is to create, around a square, a city center with complete

housing and public services. It allows many common activities, both
economic and festive.

As a first step the current restaurant, on the south-west side of the site, on
the ocean avenue, is preserved. In a second phase it will be rebuilt,
completing the overall composition. 200m2 useful

3. Construction scale 5419m2

 Area: 5.419 m2
 Maximum height : 3 floors

Drawing (autocad file) from the attached link Heart of town–Dimensions

AIAC Projet 1: Mezos – Cœur de ville
4. Programme
Concerning the general planning of the area
 Work on demarcated land without destroying the restaurant
 Demonstrate in Phase 2, how to complete the project once the current restaurant is demolished
 Find out how to treat the vacant lot on the north on ocean avenue, in front of the city Hall. Notably by creating a green parking lot (very
planted, which will complete the current garden around the City Hall)
 Functions required: residential area, service area and commercial area, parking area

À propos de l’architecture du projet

Construction / Criteria Minimum Maximum height

C O N C E P T I O N TA S K S

No Section Quantity Note

Function usable area (floor)
Individual
5-8 140 m2 / house 3
house
2 rooms
A Housing 12 65m2 / flat
flat The apartments can be located on the ground floor, 1st floor or
Flats 3
3 rooms 2nd floor of the building.
12 80m2 / flat
flat
800 m2
- Local shops, restaurants, cafés etc.
Groundfloor or other
Shops, offices - Offices are health spaces: rooms for nurses, physiotherapists, or
level small businesses

B Services - The tower is a narrow, identifiable element, the sign and

symbol of the city centre: it can accommodate a space for
The surfaces of Height to be defined by meteorology, transmissions (telephones, internet networks), an
Observation
the tower are not students, in observatory for sight and fire surveillance, climbing…
tower 1
included in the comparison to the
800 m2 church bell tower - In the lower part, it houses a small multipurpose room that can
accommodate a minimum of 60 people

For residential 1,5 place/

25m2 / parking
areas accomodation - Parking can be done in the basement, semi-basement or ground
C Parking -
For the service floor of buildings
80 places 25m2 / parking
area
AIAC Project 2: Beguinage

1. Project location
Location: located west of the town of
Mezos, limited as follows:

 The North borders the production

forests;
 The south and east are adjacent to
the popular gardens;
 The west side borders Avenue
I'Océan.
Beguinage – Site
2. Nature et objectives 16.235m2
C O N C E P T I O N TA S K S

On a beautiful hilly and wooded lot, at

the western entrance of the town of
Mezos, it is planned to build a
residential area that will include housing
and services for seniors who are
autonomous.

People living in independent housing

come together to have common
activities and a life of society.

3. Construction scale
 Area : 16.235 m2
 Maximum height: 3 floors

Drawing (autocad file) from the attached link Beguinage – Dimensions

AIAC Projet 2: Beguinage
4. Programme
Concerning the general planning of zones
 Free construction complex: single or block
 Overall site planning must be integrated into the surrounding landscape.
 Need to combine other functions such as flower garden, vegetable garden,
 The land sloping north must be studied to design a large area of water and create a landscape.

About the architecture of the project

Construction / Criteria Minimum Maximum

No Section Quantity Note
C O N C E P T I O N TA S K S

Function usable area height (floor)

Accommodatio
n type A (1 10 45m2
- Housing includes the following functions:
bedroom)
+ Common area (living room + kitchen)
Accomodation
60m2 / + Bedroom
type B (2 10
accomodation + Storage
A Housing chambres) 3
+ Outdoor garden area
- Freely furnished housing: can be built in apartment-style
Independent 20m2 / blocks, surrounding a central core. Can be simple (hut or
4
room accomodation bungalow).

Common room 1 120

Meeting rom 1 25m2 -The community area can be freely developed: it can be in
Community
B 3 blocks, surrounding a central core. Can be a single building
area Laundry 1 8m2 (hut or bungalow).
Reserre (tools,
garden 1 16m2
furniture)
AIAC 1. Current situation
Mézos
A N N E X S

The church St Jean-Baptiste (XII-XIV century) in Mézos cityhall

garluche, concretion of sand and iron, very
frequently used in the Landes.
AIAC 1. Current situation
Project 1: Heart of town
A N N E X S

South views

North view: left, building to be demolished

AIAC
A N N E X S

West view: right, building to be demolished

Avenue de l'océan. The restaurant to keep in first

tranche
AIAC
A N N E X S

The garden of the town hall in the northeast of The roundabout, on the right the garden of the Land available in the north across the ocean
the land town hall avenue

The roundabout. Left, the garden of the town hall The roundabout, north view
AIAC 1. Situation actuelle
Projet 2: Beguinage
A N N E X S

The beguinage site, on the left View of the ocean avenue, the church 150 m behind. North view

West facade of the site on the ocean avenue Back: Western Boundary View of the western boundary
AIAC
A N N E X S

North In the north, the land offers a bowl where you can Pound possibility
create a pond.

East boundary South view The beguinage, Ocean avenue

AIAC
2. Render elements
 Plans, cuts, facades 1/100

 An aerial view, 2 ground views and a perspective of your choice

 Large scale technical cut

 2 model photos (optional)

A N N E X S
AIAC
3. Layout

DWG

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1phV2GesbvwbGFA9rI-qf7OSI0DEUNnDl/view?usp=drive_lin

PSD

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/19JBD-Uj6MfhGZETPvqUe50ma9wpGMcxg/view?usp=drive_link
A N N E X S

KMZ

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RvsMft6texzfD_mFkxQnyK0OCLSbm5N6/view?usp=drive_link