Chaufferie centrale de la Z.U.P.
Monument
Chaufferie centrale de la Z.U.P., located in Mons-en-Baroeul (Nord), is a modern edifice built in the 19th-20th centuries. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Modern (19th-20th century)
- Location
- Mons-en-Baroeul, Nord, Hauts-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 50.6428, 3.1204
- Mérimée Reference
- PA59000080
A brick pyramid inhabited by twelve lions guarding the fire, this Brutalist boiler house dating from 1968 is the most audacious secret work in the Mons-en-Barœul ZUP - a listed industrial heritage site that is sculpturally unexpected.
History
In the heart of the Mons-en-Barœul ZUP, between the blocks of flats and the rectilinear roads of the great urbanism of the Trente Glorieuses, stands a building that you wouldn't expect to find in a social housing district: a red brick pyramid, raised on twelve lion-shaped pillars, which proudly dominates the urban fabric like an industrial totem pole. The ZUP central heating plant is much more than just a piece of technical equipment - it's an architectural statement. Designed by architect Henri Chomette in the wake of the major priority urban development project launched in 1959, this central heating plant supplied hot water and heating to more than five thousand homes, making it one of the invisible beating hearts of daily life for thousands of families in the north of France. Its pyramidal silhouette, designed to eliminate all unnecessary volume, is a rigorous plastic response to a functional constraint. What immediately strikes visitors is the tension between the prosaic and the monumental. The twelve red brick piers that support the metal framework have been sculpted in the shape of lions - dubbed the "guardians of fire" - giving this utilitarian piece of equipment an almost mythological dimension. These animal figures provide a transition between the ground and the structure, while leaving the lower part open to light and circulation. Listed as a Historic Monument in 2001, the boiler room is a prime example of the aesthetic ambitions of some of the architects of the reconstruction period, who refused to dissociate technology from beauty. It also represents an essential chapter in the history of district heating in France, a major social innovation of the 1960s and 1970s. For photographers and lovers of contemporary architecture alike, the boiler house offers stunning perspectives: the geometric rigour of the pyramid in dialogue with the hand-crafted details of the brick lions creates a rare tableau, on the borderline between brutalism and architectural expressionism.
Architecture
The most striking feature of the boiler house is its pyramidal shape, a deliberate choice by architect Henri Chomette to eliminate any unnecessary dead volume in a building whose function dictated very precise spatial constraints. The pyramid rises on a metal framework, a material emblematic of twentieth-century industrial architecture, the loads of which are transferred to twelve brick piers around the periphery. These twelve piers are the most extraordinary feature of the building: sculpted in the shape of crouching or rearing lions - the famous "guardians of fire" - they transform a simple structural system into an iconographic programme of rare ambition for an infrastructure building. Made of red brick, a traditional building material in the north of France, these animal figures have a dual function: structural, by transmitting the loads of the metal framework to the foundations, and spatial, by creating a void beneath the pyramid that allows circulation, access to the interior and natural lighting in the lower part of the building. The architecture of the boiler house reflects Chomette's desire to reconcile industry and craftsmanship, modernity and regional tradition. The use of brick is reminiscent of the architectural vocabulary of the northern mining and textile regions, while the pyramidal shape and metal framework assert an assertive modernity. The result is a hybrid architectural object, halfway between functional brutalism and discreet plastic expressionism, which stands out positively in the uniform landscape of the ZUP.
Related Figures
Henri Chomette — architecte concepteur de la ZUP de Mons-en-Barœul et de sa chaufferie centrale (1959-1968)Conseil municipal de Mons-en-Barœul — maître d'ouvrage, décision de création de la ZUP en 1959Les ingénieurs thermiciens anonymes — concepteurs du réseau de chauffage urbain souterrain desservant 5 000 logements
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Chaufferie centrale de la Z.U.P. located?
Chaufferie centrale de la Z.U.P. is located in Mons-en-Baroeul, Nord department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
When was Chaufferie centrale de la Z.U.P. built?
Chaufferie centrale de la Z.U.P. dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Is Chaufferie centrale de la Z.U.P. open to visitors?
Chaufferie centrale de la Z.U.P. is currently closed to visitors.