Sailing Museum Eric-Tabarly
The Sailing Museum Eric-Tabarly, built in honour to the great navigator who died at sea in 1998, is a symbol of the renewal of the submarine base of the city of Lorient. Under completion in the heart of the old military zone of the city, it will be soon open to visitors.
A bright metallic “nave”, covered up with iridescent aluminium panels that change colour according to the weather, seems to be in suspension over the dockside and forms a spectacular penthouse in front of the sea side.
Floating above a transparent ground floor, this gleaming ship is tied to the “tour des vents”, the wind tower, vertical signal standing on the water, to which are anchored the boardwalks.
At night as well as in day time, the glass façade of the building, overshadowed by cantilevers, will allow us to see from a distance the animated hall, the bar, the restaurant and all the other activities that will take place on the ground floor.
The first floor is a vast open space over the sea, where the exhibition halls dedicated to sailing, yachting and sea competitions will be located.
A long footbridge starting from the south facade connects the exhibition floor to the wind tower deck and to the boardwalks.
This building has been created with a great care given to environmental issues. The “nave” has been designed as a multiple coating shell, reducing the energy cost. On the south façade, more than 250 square meters of photovoltaic panels control day light and produce 10% of the power consumption. A see water pump installed under the boardwalks insures the right temperature all year long. The wind tower supports a wind turbine which produces the electricity needed for the heating pump. In other words, this ecological building will use the energy brought by the sea, the wind and the sun to reduce drastically its energy consumption.
