Bands of light shine through the perforated metal facade of this sports hall by French studio Ateliers O-S Architectes in north-west Paris (+ slideshow).

Located beside a railway embankment in Asnières-sur-Seine, the Gymnase Curie provides a flexible games hall for a nearby school and was designed by Ateliers O-S Architectes to be "visually homogeneous" to its surroundings.

The facade is glazed at street level to reveal the building's activities to pedestrians walking by, while the remaining sections of the walls are uniformly clad with the perforated metal panels.

Fluorescent tubes are arranged vertically behind the panels to create the illuminated stripes, allowing the building to glow after dark.

"Emerging from the railway embankment as a rock with straight edges, the gymnasium manifests itself through its massive aspect, leaning over an illuminated rift that shows the interior activities," explained the architects.

Behind the facade, the building has a timber roof structure that is exposed across the ceiling of the hall.

Clerestory windows bring daylight in from the east, reducing the need for artificial lighting.

Changing rooms, storage areas and bathrooms wrap the south and east sides of the building, while a small public square frames the main entrance.

Photography is by Cecile Septet.

Here's more information from Ateliers O-S Architectes:

Gymnse Scolaire Zac Bords de Seine

The site is characterised by three special features that led our intentions:
» Its dimension: a narrow piece of land, 30m width and 250m long, along a railway embankment
» Its orientation: the site opens to the south on the river La Seine
» A breach generated by the western entrance of the new district under the embankment

The urban challenge was to develop a coherent project on the site scale that uses these features. The breach becomes a unifying square, a strong link between the gymnasium and the outdoor playgrounds. The length of the site is organised by a sequence of wooden planted wall.

Emerging from the railway embankment as a rock with straight edges, the gymnasium manifests itself through its massive aspect leaning over an illuminated rift that shows the interior activities.

The sports hall, that we wanted visually homogeneous, is located along the street, creating a strong visual link between the city and the gymnasium. Around are organised the changing rooms, the facilities and other additional rooms.

An opening on the roof brings diffuse light, completing the light coming from the wide windows on the facades.

The street facades are composed by two levels: a glassed low level that brings life to the street at pedestrian scale, and a high massive level composed of metallic punched panels that highlight the building with vertical lights.

The structure is made of a wooden framework leaning over a concrete basement along the railway. The high laminated timber beams appears on the roof, giving rhythm and depth. This project is a simple answer to sustainable development concerns and to a particular urban context.