The former Halles Latécoère, listed as an intangible heritage site in the industrial history of aeronautics in Toulouse, bears witness to the manufacturing past of this city, well known as one of the cradles of aviation. These historic buildings, forming three halls, housed the Latécoère group's aircraft assembly plants between the wars.
Partly destroyed following the 1944 bombings, the halls were rebuilt in the 1950s.
A century after the original buildings were constructed, the Taillandier Architectes Associes agency came up with the idea of rehabilitating this vast site. The aim is to create a centre for innovation for the Occitanie Region.
The Cité comprises co-working spaces, a FabLab, meeting rooms, a 200-seat conference room, a restaurant, and an events space on almost 14,000 m² of floor space.
To protect these immense volumes in the event of a fire, half-hour fire rated structures EI 30 have been installed to compartmentalise the spaces. Glazed doors with Pilkington Pyrostop® 30-20, 18 mm glass and partitions composed of Pilkington Pyrostop® Line 30-600, 18 mm edge-to-edge bonded glass were chosen for their lasting transparency and optical quality, without compromising fire protection performance.
Pilkington Pyrostop® Line edge-to-edge fire glass provides continuous partitions without intermediate studs, with a translucent joint of only 5 mm between panes.
Pilkington Pyrostop® glass was installed in timber joinery following the fire resistance certificates developed by Pilkington Deutschland AG, a part of the NSG Group.
Photography: © Jean-Baptiste Thiriet