Lorient Railway Station

The Lorient multimodal hub is part of the “Bretagne à Grande Vitesse” project, a high-speed line which is expected to allow a three-hour total travel time between Quimper, Brest and Paris by 2017. The station is being rebuilt on the south, close to the city centre and in the heart of the transport hub accommodating different types of public transport means: rail, inter-city buses and coaches serving the conurbation. An urban walkway both allows to access the platforms and links Kerentrech district to the city centre during the station opening hours.

  The main facade opens up to the heart of the city and along with the large timber portal frame forming the building’s structure, alludes to the city’s shipbuilding tradition. Lorient’s recent architectural history gives prominence to stone as well as concrete and washed-concrete facades, all of which is echoed by the fibre-reinforced double skin featuring all the openings related to the various elements of the project (station entrance, retail outlets, offices) and protecting the facade from solar radiation. Colour is a background element in the same way as in the buildings with loggias of Lorient.

The south facade is composed of a complex timber structure comprising insulation, interior and exterior timber cladding, glazed surfaces and double skin, ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) screen modelled in sub-frames. The north facade is mostly glazed and its large openings allow views on the new TER platform (express regional lines). It is gridded with large glass modules featuring metal crosspieces with a 4.8 m span between the beams.

Lorient-Bretagne Sud Railway Station
Program: railway station
Architects: Etienne Tricaud – François Bonnefille – Olivier Boissonnet AREP and SNCF Gares & Connexions
Engineering consultancy for framework and facades: H.D.A. Hugh Dutton & Associés Mitsu
Timber frame and metal structures: Mathis et Baudin Châteauneuf
Facades envelope: A.C.M.L.
Foundations and concrete structure: S.R.B.
Completion: 2017