Leisure Centre with Dormitory, Limoges, France, Commercial Visitors Attraction, Southwest France Architecture
20 January 2026
Design: Atelier Quatre and r2k architectes
Location: Limoges, France
Photos by TREMEGE Frederic
Leisure Centre with Dormitory, France
In an idyllic environment surrounded by remarkable trees, the conversion of this former three-hectare campsite was inaugurated in October 2025, marking the opening of a new leisure centre for 200 children from Limoges and school field trips.
This facility includes accommodations, making it highly versatile and allowing it to be used as often as possible by different groups (throughout the week and during school holidays).
By preserving remarkable trees, and by incorporating four buildings on the site into the design, the environmental approach was continued with new buildings constructed from local wood and using straw bale insulation.
The interior finishing touches favour the use of natural, healthy, and reused materials. The New Aquitaine Sustainable Building approach certified the building at the SILVER level (a temporary level, as the third commission has not yet been carried out).
The project
Children enter the leisure centre through a porch and onto a lawn lined with a gallery that connects all the centre’s facilities. The natural wood cladding of each block is complemented by touches of colour that identify the different houses, serving as landmarks.
The wooden gallery connects the various areas around the meadow, including reception, administration, a centre for children aged 6 to 11, accommodations, catering, and a kitchen. This spatial experience creates a reassuring and identifiable movement starting from the heart of the site towards the buildings, the true starting point for discovering the wilder fringes of the site.
A series of tree-like pillars punctuates the architectural walkway. Covered playgrounds provide sheltered outdoor areas for playing in all seasons, opening onto the majestic woodland. Each hub is connected to a section of the park.
A variety of games taking advantage of the topography created from the excavated earth on the site provide climbing, sliding, rolling, and orienteering activities. There is a small outdoor theatre, hills with slides, tunnels, footbridges, sports fields for matches, and archery tournaments set in a vast wooded area.
Part of the campsite is used for an outdoor experience. The exploration of this biodiversity ranges from woodland to more natural meadows.
Each building has its own identity, while featuring similar materials: wood cladding on covered areas for durability and plaster on exposed facades. The activity rooms are deliberately set apart from the standard classrooms, with large sloping ceilings and reused elements such as doors used as interior cladding, providing surfaces of expression.
The architecture is educational for children, created from renewable materials and energy efficient. It offers spatial and acoustic comfort to users, made from eco-friendly materials sourced from nature and available on site, such as wood, hemp, straw, and earth.
BDNA (New Aquitaine Sustainable Building) Silver environmental certification
The city of Limoges wanted an exemplary building to accommodate young children, and chose an ambitious approach: the BDNA approach (New Aquitaine Sustainable Building – aimed for gold but achieved the silver level) aims to reduce carbon impact and use healthy and natural materials sourced from sustainable sources.
The BDNA approach emphasises the importance of the entire project development process. The project was therefore developed jointly with teaching staff, users, and the children’s municipal council. All participants were present from the origin of the project to the inauguration alongside the mayor and representatives of various institutions. The project demonstrates its roots in the local area: the chosen site is a 3-hectare former municipal campsite near a lake and forests. It continues to be used for recreational purposes and features remarkable trees.
Four houses from the former campsite have been renovated. One has been converted into workshops, another into a dining room for 3 to 5 year olds. The third is still used for its original purpose as showers/kitchen for the campsite section of the park. The fourth, the former campsite reception, is used as a starting point for bike rides and as a gardening shed.
Socially, it is an ambitious project that welcomes children from all backgrounds and includes people with disabilities.
Taking energy consumption into account, the agency opted for energy efficiency in their choice of systems and construction methods, incorporating bioclimatic design, carefully thought out insulation, construction using low-carbon materials sourced from renewable bio-based and geo-based industries, and reused materials. They are also including existing buildings in the overall design. The shower and kitchen facilities at the former campsite have been completely transformed.
Focus on straw insulation
The agency has been using straw since 2008 and wanted to introduce this insulation in the form of bales of straw thanks to the ATEX certification obtained by the company LELO at the very beginning of the project. The use of bales of straw for the roof was considered, but as ATEX certification did not cover this case, cellulose wadding was used instead.
The project also included the renovation of the sanitary facilities at the former campsites, which were insulated with hemp line. Earth plaster was also used on the hemp line and the interior masonry.
The combination of all these materials ensures optimal comfort, both hygrothermal and acoustic, and, more generally, creates high quality interior environments.
Water use
Water is omnipresent, with a rainwater drainage system included in the central courtyard, and a retention basin for the vegetable garden.
Carbon footprint
The project is designed according to a bioclimatic and sustainable approach. Built with a timber frame, it incorporates highly insulated walls made from bio-based materials, such as chopped straw and cellulose wadding, offering excellent thermal performance while maintaining a low carbon footprint.
Cooperation between the various project stakeholders has enabled performance levels to be achieved that are nearly 40% higher than the RE2020 requirements. The design was also guided by dynamic thermal simulation, ensuring excellent summer comfort for users.
Leisure Centre with Dormitory in Limoges, France – Building Information
Design: Atelier Quatre – Architecte DPLG and r2k architectes
Architects:
Design phase: R2K Architecte + Atelier 4 architecte and economist/ BDNA (New Aquitaine Sustainable Building)
Construction phase: Atelier 4
Landscape architect: Christophe Le Huger
Thermal and environmental engineering: Maya
Fluid engineering: Larbre ingenierie
Acoustics: Orfea
Technical Design Office Wood and concrete structure: Hemery Limoges
Program
1- Reception and administration
2- Area for children aged 3 to 5
3- Multipurpose room and science, multimedia and craft workshops
4- Area for children aged 6 to 11
5- Accommodation for 36 children and accompanying adults on the ground floor and first floor
6- Restaurant and educational kitchen
7- Galleries and covered playgrounds
8- Bicycle storage and gardening area
9- A Leisure centre on the former campsite comprising 3 ha of garden and park.
Surface 2,534 sqm of new and refurbished living space + 884 sqm of covered courtyard and galleries.
Cost: The project was completed at a total cost of €2,650/sqm of floor space. This price includes landscaping on 3 hectares of land.
Wooden structure and biosourced insulation
Timber frame walls filled with bales of straw + exterior wood fibre
Timber roof boxes insulated with cellulose wadding
External insulation in FOB (timber frame façade)
CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) roofing for the walkway
Spruce structure
Cladding: Douglas fir
External terraces: black locust (Robinia)
Internal cladding: reused wood (old pine door frames / reused oak parquet flooring / old door blocks of unknown origin)
Volume of wood and insulation used in the project
Bales of straw: 150 m3
Cellulose wadding: 473 m³
Solid wood: 8.7 m3
Finger-jointed solid wood: 99.1 m³
Laminated wood: 85.5 m³
Glued laminated timber: 214.5 m³
Robinia decking boards: 30 m³
Cladding: 16.5 m³
CLT: 45.7 m³
Reuse: 230 sqm of wood panelling (flooring, doors, uprights, etc.)
Reuse
The approach continued with the reuse of materials, which, as we can see today, greatly enhances the final result with its originality. Initially limited to interior fittings, all those involved embraced the project and enabled the reuse of:
Old parquet flooring from a city gymnasium used as interior façade cladding
Wooden doors from a city demolition used as interior façade cladding
Old metal shelves transformed into magnetic boards
Recycled coat hooks + coat hooks created from old chair legs
Exterior steps made from sawn paving stones sourced from the site
Reuse of all tiles from the site to cover shelters and used in a soil/tile mixture for outdoor walkways
Reuse of sanitary fixtures
Outdoor borders made from reclaimed wood sourced from a demolition in the same municipality
Reuse of excavated soil to create hill games throughout the site
Reuse of a wooden garage shed, cut into two pieces to create a bus shelter and an outdoor playhouse
Interior fittings
Interior wood joinery
Interior wood cladding made from reclaimed wood
Hemp line insulation + earth plaster in the renovated areas
Organic panel ceilings (mineralised wood)
The children’s comfort is also ensured by the interior design with custom-designed furniture for cupboards, beds. and signage
Energy efficiency
The average heating requirement is 18.5 kWh/m²/year (varies depending on the building). The heating is provided by air/water heat pumps for each building. Underfloor heating ensures the children’s comfort.
The roof with 10% slope of the reception and restaurant building is used for the production of 78,400 Wp of photovoltaic solar energy.
About r2k architects
A pioneering agency of bio-based architecture, r2k architects use available resources, whether natural or reused. Their buildings offer well-being, beauty, and harmony to their users.
About Atelier Quatre
Atelier Quatre is guided by their environmental commitment and their architectural requirements. Every new project they undertake is designed with particular attention to sustainability and ecological impact. They integrate innovative practices and environmentally friendly materials, and they strive to exceed current standards in sustainable construction.
Photographer: TREMEGE Frederic
Leisure Centre with Dormitory, Limoges, France images / information received 200126 from v2com newswire
Location: Libourne, Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
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