Terracotta waves

CB architectes

Remarkable but not ostentatious, the new look for the head office of the Mutami health insurance company, which also houses other offices and doctors’ surgeries, is truly one of a kind!

Thierry Bourthoumieux, CB Architectes : “ Not only was our work performed with the building still occupied and with the need to comply with fire and disability standards, we also needed to pull off quite a significant transformation across the whole of the building, which is one of the tallest in the city. It was that set of limitations that gave rise to the creation. The façade has been applied to the monolithic building like a skin that envelops it without actually touching it: it’s almost as if I sculpted its shape around empty space! And the terracotta was a valuable ally in this work, because it offers real thickness and density. And on top of that, it is a vibrant material that will last for a very long time. Not to mention that, as a native of Toulouse, terracotta occupies a very special place in my heart: I was raised in a terracotta cradle! The challenge from a technical point of view was size, as the façade is suspended. Suspended in the air and in time, like an everlasting wave... When I look at the before and after, I realise that this project represents a complete metamorphosis, like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis ! ”

Mutami, Toulouse, FR - CB architectes - Autan XL & Zonda XL from TERREAL range