Virage Mulsanne Hotel Architectures

Kilo Architectures have designed the Virage Mulsanne Hotel in Le Mans, France. On the circuit of the world’s oldest sports car race, the 24 hours of Le Mans, this project addresses questions of architectural scale and ‘speed.’ Architectural speed is the manner or rate at which a building is viewed or experienced. For this project, the high velocity at which this building will most frequently be viewed led us to compose an ‘elevation of motion’ wherein the facade is designed to be regarded in accelerated motion.

In order to break the homogeneity present in most economic hotel buildings, multiple horizontal windows were scattered over the facade in order to obfuscate the scale and nature of the building. The scale of the building is not immediately clear, and the repetition and rhythm of the rooms within are impossible to read from the facade. In addition, the playful placement of windows renders every room unique; some rooms have windows on the floor or at the line of the ceiling, and every room benefits from a unique framing of the world outside.

Photography by David Bourreau

Tags terms: Mans, France, economic hotel, horizontal windows, high velocity, hotel buildings, mulsanne, car race, virage, 24 hours of le mans, homogeneity, le mans france, facade, architectures, sports car, repetition, elevation, architects, rhythm, framing, photography