The Common House in Light — Maurepas Town Hall

As part of the Maurepas lighting masterplan developed in 2010-2011, visible via this link, Atelier dada proposed a specific lighting concept for the Town Hall, a central civic place and daily landmark for the city’s inhabitants.

The project imagined the town hall as a nocturnal common house, visible, welcoming, open to art and innovation. Light accompanied the presence of the building within the city, revealing its volumes, artworks, threshold and symbolic role at the heart of public space.

The modern architecture of the Town Hall offered a clear composition, structured by two lateral pillars, a central axis, an access staircase, a front sign and a façade already inhabited by pictorial and sculptural works. The lighting concept built upon this organization to strengthen the reading of the place and give each element an appropriate nocturnal presence.

The frescoes on the façade were lit with precision, preserving their plastic strength and chromatic vibration. The sculpture at the foot of the staircase became a more intimate point of attention, inscribed in the visual path before reaching the main entrance.

The “Hôtel de Ville” sign, lit by spotlights placed on both sides of the text, could either be switched off as part of the project or modified to become backlit. This evolution would have strengthened its visibility and legibility, while giving the front sign a presence more fully integrated into the architecture.

Vertical luminous tickers, installed within the central cavities of each pillar, carried civic colours in everyday use, while being able to adopt the colours associated with specific celebrations. They could also host simple messages, hearts, tricolour signs and evolving sequences, inscribing words close to the inhabitants into the night: love, fraternity, heart of the city. They could also relay words connected to innovation, as well as information about the city’s municipal, cultural and civic programmes.

The precise programme of messages, colours and sequences was to be refined in a later phase if the project had been selected. It could have accompanied ordinary moments of municipal life as well as celebrations, seasons, ceremonies and collective events.

The lighting concept proposed several levels of intensity and temporality. The most expressive scenarios could accompany the city’s key moments, while softer atmospheres would take over later in the evening. This gradation allowed civic visibility, energy sobriety and the nocturnal quality of public space to remain in balance.

Through this study, Atelier dada sought to make the Town Hall a living landmark: a common house where architecture, art, light and inhabitants come together in one nocturnal presence.

The consortium led with Bouygues Énergie, in which Atelier dada carried the artistic and lighting vision, came second. Unfortunately, the project did not move forward into implementation.