CNSD Headquarters – Fontainebleau, France

For almost 50 years, the CNSD has been home to all of France’s military sports training courses on the edge of the Fontainebleau forest. Uncoordinated development, the dispersal of otherwise obsolete infrastructure and the desire to open up the military complex to civilian sportsmen and women led the Ministry of Defence to embark on an ambitious project. The redevelopment was carried out with the aim of bringing out the intrinsic qualities of the site, to provide an exceptional setting for top-level sport.
The spatial reorganisation is being carried out in 3 stages.
Cleaning up, lightening and clarifying the campus in order to reduce the built footprint and creating landscaped land reserves to restore a clearing atmosphere, an atmosphere of the heart of the forest by returning as much land as possible to nature.
Structuring the site with a new urban framework from the entrance to the sports complex serving all the facilities. Two new areas of high symbolic value – the Place d’Armes and the Esplanade des Sports – connected by a pedestrian mall, link the site and organise the routes through it.
Enhance the quality of the new sequence with light buildings that echo the woodland character of the campus. The architecture is resolutely contemporary, soft and calm, with variations based on a reference material: wood.
The new command building sits in the background of the Place d’Armes. Visible from the street, it emphasises the military character of the site with strength and serenity. The pure massing of the building is marked by a clear inflection of the centre resulting from the projection of the alignment of the accommodation buildings. Its shape announces the general composition of the Campus. At the inflection of the two wings is a triple-height through hall, punctuating the rigorous alternation of wood and glass panels.