Cork has once again made its presence felt in the world of sport, this time at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as the material chosen for the Pavilion of the French Archery Federation. It all started with an open call from Archi-Folies, an initiative that challenged students from France’s leading architecture schools to design ephemeral spaces to house the French federations of different sports during the Olympics. The twenty ephemeral pavilions were installed in the Parc de la Villette, headquarters of Club France, where French athletes and federations met.
The Brittany School of Architecture (ENSA) was one of the institutions to respond to the call, presenting an original project for the Pavilion of the French Archery Federation. Under the guidance of Professor Mathieu Le Barzic, six students from the school designed a modular construction, with prefabricated elements, designed to be easily dismantled and transportable, and using biodegradable materials, in a responsible and sustainable architectural practice. This is where cork comes in: Mathieu Le Barzic contacted Corticeira Amorim, through a distributor in Rennes, and the proposed solution was Amorim Cork Solutions’ MDFacade product.
The 20mm thick cork planks cover the pavilion’s exterior walls, which are built from a lightweight wooden structure filled with compressed straw.
