Mediatheque, Paris Part 1 Project 2003 Natalie Skeete University of Portsmouth | UK The driving force behind the Parc Villemin Mediatheque project is the consistent integration of the two site sections. The project recognises the necessity to ‘zoom’ in and out at differing scales and therefore allows for the detail to be explored as well as incorporating wider landscape.The mediatheque itself and the associated housing project, form a discursive relationship due to their location and proximity. Connecting them together is an external performance space that allows for, a concealed link to the internal performance space at the centre of the mediatheque and for the housing, to overlook the space itself. During daylight, the mediatheque appears as a heavy, basalt clad cube sitting monumentally, on a fragile sea of glass. The oblectives of the project were to challenge students to respond sensitively to a complex urban context. Skeete took account of the canalside location using a sesitively designed object building that created a 'marker'in the park, drawing both local community and passing commuters (the site is close to Gare de l'Est) to the mediateque thus enlivening the park and under-used canal edge.