Le siphon de la Mulatière
The Siphon project concerns the requalification of the drainage facilities for the “Siphon de la Mulatière” which is located at the tip of the Confluence between the Rhone and the Saône and is designed by the AUM agency in Lyon between 2013 and 2016. It consists of a desalination basin through which the waste water from the Lyon peninsula passes before being filtered in the existing screening room and then dumped under the Saône River to the right bank.
The project to reimagine the sewage system for the Siphon de la Mulatière consists of several points.
First of all, Pierre Minassian and his AUM team have designed the existing drainage basins with a "tunnel" in a metallic structure of industrial building type that will connect to the building of the existing bar screens. The articulation of the two buildings makes it possible to create a covered space for the storage of the sandboxes. The entire building is enclosed, which allows precise control of odor emanations that may be disturbing to the Confluence museum.
The second stage of the project is to cover the whole building with a second skin in order to perceive a single uniform volume. This one should not compete with the architecture of the museum and thus melts at the foot of the retaining wall. The outer skin consists of wide triangular facets in lacquered steel sheets of natural color with two types of perforations. A wide perforation on the roof and a finer on the contours are used to highlight the project's tight lines. The volume is uniform and discreet. A wheel rim protects all the damaging accessible sides of the building. The esplanade to the south of the project will be sunk to the Quai de Saône. The space between the retaining wall and the north façade is be engraved.
