The Parc des Ateliers is built in a former locomotive maintenance yard in an industrial area south of the historic city centre in Arles. Now, the complex is a place for exchange between artists, visionaries and the public. The program for the LUMA Foundation in Arles was developed by a core group of art consultants, curators and artists (Tom Eccles, Liam Gillick, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Philippe Parreno and Beatrix Ruf among them) and since its launch in 2014, the works of many artists have been exhibited, reflecting one of the three areas of interest of the LUMA Foundation: art, human rights and environment.
The Parc des Ateliers consists of six existing industrial buildings, five of which are being renovated by Selldorf Architects. Two have been completed and have had their openings celebrated as part of Rencontres, an internationally renowned photography exhibition: Les Forges in 2014 and Mecanique Générale in 2016.
The LUMA Foundation intends for the Parc des Ateliers to be an outstanding project both architecturally and in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability. As the project climate engineer and sustainability consultant, Transsolar formulated ambitious goals to reduce the primary energy demand by 60% when compared to a building meeting the legal energy requirements and to avoid all use of nuclear power.
Decreasing energy consumption by this magnitude is achieved by implementing significant passive and active measures. The remaining energy demand is then supplied by renewable sources.
Passive measures require deliberate integration with the architectu-re and necessitate early cooperation between the architect and climate engineer. Active measures also necessitate careful consideration of HVAC system design and need to be compatible with the architectural concept.