{"id":214658,"date":"2025-10-10T16:16:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/214658\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T16:16:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:16:15","slug":"big-designs-the-sail-conference-centre-in-normandy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/214658\/","title":{"rendered":"BIG designs The Sail conference centre in Normandy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Danish architecture studio <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/big\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BIG<\/a> has revealed plans for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/mass-timber\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">mass-timber<\/a>, riverside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/conference-centres\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">conference centre<\/a> in Rouen, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/france\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">France<\/a>, with a swooping roof.<\/p>\n<p>Designed for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.metropole-rouen-normandie.fr\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rouen Normandy Metropolis<\/a>, The Sail will be situated on the Seine river and aim to provide <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/public-space\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">public space<\/a> that connects the Normandy city with the waterside.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2257005 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/the-sail-congress-centre-big-normandy_dezeen_2364_col_1-852x431.jpg\" alt=\"The Sail congress centre in Normandy by BIG\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1197\"  \/>A swooping roof will top The Sail congress centre in Rouen<\/p>\n<p>The centre will contain two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/auditoriums\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">auditoriums<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/exhibitions-tag\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">exhibition<\/a> spaces, meeting rooms and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/restaurants\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">restaurant<\/a> within its mass-timber structure.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/big.dk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BIG<\/a> referenced Rouen&#8217;s traditional half-timbered houses when designing the building&#8217;s glass and timber facades, while the shape of ship sails informed the sweeping roof, which will be covered in photovoltaics.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2257007 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/the-sail-congress-centre-big-normandy_dezeen_2364_col_3-852x655.jpg\" alt=\"Mass-timber congress centre in Normandy by BIG\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1818\"  \/>The roof will extend to shelter outdoor space<\/p>\n<p>The Sail&#8217;s tallest facade will face the river and main road, with long timber columns topped with a roofline that will gently curve up at one end.<\/p>\n<p>Towards the city-facing side of the building, the curving roof will slope down into six scalloped waves that extend to form canopies over an outdoor public space.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2025\/09\/29\/big-claremont-mckenna-college-richard-day-sciences-center\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"191\" height=\"191\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/robert-day-sciences-center-claremont-mckenna-college-california-big_dezeen_2364_sq-2-191x191.jpg\" class=\"excludeLightbox wp-post-image\" alt=\"BIG Robert Day Sciences Center in Los Angeles\" decoding=\"async\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"  \/><\/p>\n<p> BIG completes &#8220;first built project in Los Angeles&#8221; at Claremont McKenna College\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Rising along the Seine, The Sail introduces a new silhouette to Rouen with its sweeping roofline paying tribute to the city&#8217;s naval heritage and historic skyline of spires,&#8221; said BIG partner Jakob Sand.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The building greets visitors from the highway with a vertical facade, while on the city side, the roof creates sheltered canopies, extending the foyer into a human-scaled public landscape,&#8221; he continued.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Built with mass-timber construction, daylight-optimised interiors and an energy-producing roof, it is both a low-impact infrastructure and a cultural hub, offering an inclusive space for Rouen and its visitors.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2257019 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/the-sail-congress-centre-big-normandy_dezeen_2364_col_15-852x434.jpg\" alt=\"The Sail congress centre by BIG\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1203\"  \/>It will be situated along the Seine river<\/p>\n<p>Inside, The Sail&#8217;s timber structure and characteristic curving roof will be left exposed.<\/p>\n<p>Trees and planted patches will surround the building, which will be watered by rainwater collected from the roof.<\/p>\n<p>Other projects recently unveiled by BIG include renders of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2025\/08\/21\/telosa-city-big-marc-lore-big-usa-city-images\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a &#8220;built-from-scratch&#8221; conceptual city<\/a> in the American desert, and plans for the four-building <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2025\/08\/19\/670-mesquit-development-big-approved-los-angeles-arts-district\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">670 Mesquit complex in Los Angeles,<\/a> which recently received planning approval nine years after initial designs were released.<\/p>\n<p>The images and video are by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atchain.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Atchain<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danish architecture studio BIG has revealed plans for a mass-timber, riverside conference centre in Rouen, France, with a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,1979,120127,229,88,594,38443,64879,64880,64881],"class_list":{"0":"post-214658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-big","12":"tag-conference-centres","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-france","16":"tag-mass-timber","17":"tag-sectionall","18":"tag-sectionarchitecture","19":"tag-sectionnews"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}