Category: Le Mag SMC2

SMC2 has designed and built an impressive 1,400m2 sports complex for the town of Croissy-sur-Seine near Paris. It provides local clubs and associations with tremendous facilities for sports and related activities. The complex was built, and is operated on eco-friendly principles in accordance with our company ethos. Find out more about them now!

A fully-featured sports complex
The complex comprises:
– a 684 m2 multi-sport hall
– a 700 m2 club-house / changing room building featuring: –
– a gym / fitness training room
– an office area
– a club room / reception hall
– 6 changing rooms with showers
The project also incorporates a 310m2 covered grandstand overlooking the adjacent athletics track.
Engineered foundations using 22m deep concrete piles were needed to overcome constraints posed by site geology.

A concept that’s both affordable and eco-friendly
This project was completed using hybrid glue-laminated timber (Glulam) /metal frame technology and textile architecture to provide an affordable and eco-friendly solution.
The sports hall is designed to provide a tempered environment of 12°C (ideal temperature for energy-intensive sports) by means of a gas powered radiant heating system. Thanks to the use of translucent tensile fabric roof cladding no artificial lighting is necessary for daytime use, a fact that affords significant energy savings for the Client.
The club house area was entirely built using Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) on a prefabricated concrete floor. Thermal insulation was achieved using externally fixed proprietary wood based cladding panels.

Shorter construction deadlines
This project was completed in just 12 months. A very high degree of off-site pre-fabrication with simple on-site assembly & minimal wet trades saved time during construction. The concrete flooring, CLT changing rooms and Glulam frame over the sports hall were all prefabricated in SMC2’s production facilities.

Combining bioclimatic architecture, eco-materials and dry process, SMC2 is able to provide solutions adapted to all projects, regardless of their location and the climatic conditions prevailing there: Europe, Africa, America or even the French overseas departments and territories!

Materials that are easy to transport

SMC2 infrastructures are based on a design method known as “dry construction”, which involves the preparation of all the components used in the construction of the project (metal and glued laminated timber frames, timber frame panels, textile membranes) prior to the site. As these prepared components have to be transported to the construction site for assembly, they are optimised to reduce their energy consumption and transport costs. For this reason, SMC2 has its own production units and has succeeded in reducing the density of its construction materials.
SMC2 solutions are exported to Europe, America (North and South), Africa and Australia.

Solutions adapted to all types of climatic conditions

If SMC2 infrastructures can be exported to all continents, it is because they are based on the principle of bioclimatic architecture, which takes advantage of the conditions of a site to improve the comfort of its users, reduce its energy consumption and its operating costs.

Whether in wood or metal, SMC2 buildings are designed to withstand the sometimes extreme conditions of seismic, cyclonic or mountainous areas. Wood also provides effective thermal insulation while controlling the humidity of the premises. The textile membrane, used for the roof, offers protection against heat and blocks UV rays. It is also very resistant to marine environments (salty and humid air with a high rate of UV).

Finally, in tropical environments, natural ventilation is provided according to the principle of Creole houses in order to generate refreshing air flows without any energy consumption.

SPORTS AND LEISURE: ADAPTED STRUCTURES FOR INCREASED PLEASURE!

As sports and leisure activities are one of SMC2’s key sectors, we are able to offer local authorities solutions that are both adapted to their projects and to the specificities of the targeted disciplines: combat and racket sports, basketball, handball, skateboarding, swimming, gymnastics, or even ice skating, to name but a few.
Whether it is for the construction of covered open-air pitches or indoor complexes including changing rooms and clubhouses, SMC2 favours materials such as wood, textile and metal that are as efficient as they are economical and environmentally friendly. Indeed, their advantages and characteristics are as much at the service of communities as of players and their public.

Discover the advantages of SMC2 solutions for sports and leisure activities:

Comfortable lighting
Thanks to the homogeneous natural lighting of the textile cover during the day, the game flows smoothly for players and spectators who are no longer bothered by glare or shadows. With an average of 800 lux of daylight per year, communities can reduce their electricity consumption and make valuable savings.

Acoustic comfort
The textile membrane greatly reduces the phenomena of reverberation and echoes, and also provides additional comfort in terms of acoustics. This feature is particularly appreciated in places with a large audience. No more shrill whistles or piercing noises from your soles!

Thermal comfort
The combined action of wood and textile gives buildings excellent thermal insulation due to their intrinsic characteristics. They allow significant energy savings in the heating of the various spaces.
In order to provide local authorities with solutions that meet both their needs and their budget, SMC2 offers two types of indoor buildings: the heated room (up to 16/18°C) and the tempered room (heated up to 12°C, which allows for energy savings of up to 50% compared to a traditional gymnasium).

Hygrometric comfort
Wood is a material that breathes. In combination with an adequate ventilation system, it naturally contributes to good air quality and humidity regulation. These characteristics are particularly important for public areas and changing rooms where the humidity level can be high with the use of showers.

Wooden architecture is the technical solution favoured by SMC2 when designing infrastructures dedicated to sport, education and culture in order to preserve the health of children and allow them to develop in a healthy environment. This is why SMC2 also uses this type of design when constructing buildings dedicated to tertiary sector companies: to provide an environment with certified air quality and thermal comfort for employees.

Quality insulation

With 80% of employees complaining about the temperature in their offices, insulation is a key element in the construction of company buildings. By favouring wooden architecture, which eliminates thermal bridges and can be up to 20 times more insulating than concrete, SMC2 buildings comply with the 2012 Thermal Regulations and the High Environmental Quality approach. This saves energy while ensuring a good temperature for the employees.

Healthy air

While we spend many hours each day working indoors, the air can become even more polluted than outside (VOCs: volatile organic compounds, humidity, dust mites, bacteria, etc.). Wooden architecture helps to ensure healthy air in company premises.
Indeed, wood is a material that is known to “breathe”. It naturally regulates the hygrometry in the rooms. It is also less absorbent than other materials and does not retain dust and dust mites. In addition to this, SMC2 selects materials with the lowest VOC emissions for healthy air that protects the health of employees: insulation, coatings, paints, etc.

Renowned for its expertise in innovative envelopes such as composite membranes, SMC2 is proud to announce its participation in two major projects: manufacturing a roof and facade textile covering for a 15,000 m² world-class sports complex in Miramas, and installing composite membrane roofing for all 8 protected courts at Europe’s biggest tennis academy in the Sophia Antipolis Technology Park.

A 15,000 m² sports complex in Miramas
As part of a project backed by the French Athletics Federation, the town of Miramas in southern France’s Bouches-du-Rhône department will be home to a 15,000 m² sports complex seating 5,500 to 7,500 spectators. This stadium will host world-class athletics competitions and other competitive events including handball, basketball, boxing and judo. At other times, it will be the daily training venue for professional athletes and schoolchildren, and will also be dedicated to sport research.
SMC2 will be tasked with designing and producing a “wave form composite membrane roof and facade” to cover the entire complex. Offering players and public a high degree of comfort thanks to the natural zenithal lighting it provides, this material is outstandingly strong when stretched on a metal hoop roof frame, which also gives it its wave-like look. This is why the biggest sports facilities in the world are using it: Olympic stadiums in London and Berlin, F1 racing circuit in Kuala Lumpur.
The worksite is poised to kick off this autumn and the building is scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2016.

Mouratoglou, Europe’s biggest tennis academy
A part of the Sophia Antipolis Technology Park, the town of Biot saw Europe’s biggest tennis academy break ground on 12 April last. Mouratoglou will be a worldwide academic centre dedicated to tennis. Featuring 35 courts and 10,000 m2 of buildings, the campus will be home to conference rooms, offices, specialised stores, a medical centre and boarding facilities. A 4-star hotel, tourist apartments and swimming pools will also grace the site.
Project-leading architect Dan Costa Foru (Archi & Partners International) has selected SMC2 to design the roof frame and textile canopy for all 8 covered courts in the tennis cluster. As the Alpes-Maritimes region is famous for its sunshine, and because the textile roofing has low thermal inertia and consistent natural lighting, sports can be safely practiced without suffering from heat or shadow/glare spots.
Delivery is scheduled for April 2016.

Manosque, a french town that has undergone major demographic and economic development in recent years, inaugurated its first indoor football complex in spring 2014. In charge of its design and construction, SMC2 chose textile architecture for its many qualities in terms of solidity, durability and comfort. This indoor complex has thus become the first complex with a textile roof in France.

A first in France
As the most populated town in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Manosque needed a structure that would allow the many football enthusiasts in the region to play their favourite sport in the best possible conditions, whatever the season.
The Manosque indoor football complex will celebrate its first anniversary on 27 May. Equipped with 4 5-a-side football pitches, 3 padel courts, a restaurant, a lounge bar and a business area, it is the first building of its kind to be designed with a textile covering in France.

The choice of textile
Innovative, textile architecture offers many advantages that are all the more appreciable under the sun of Manosque. Indeed, located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, the town enjoys strong sunshine and higher than average temperatures throughout the year. As practising sport can be difficult in very hot weather, the sports complex had to offer ideal conditions for practising while being environmentally friendly (and therefore energy efficient).

The assurance of a comfortable playing environment
Composite membrane is a material that is used in the construction of the world’s largest sports complexes such as the Olympic stadiums in London and Berlin. It offers great comfort for players and spectators while being environmentally friendly and more economical than traditional materials.
Its low thermal inertia allows sports to be played in good conditions despite the high temperatures that can prevail outside. Its natural lighting offers a homogeneous luminosity without shadow zones or glare.
As matches and the public can be noisy, the textile architecture offers a high level of acoustic comfort by curbing the phenomena of echo and reverberation.

Eco-responsibility
100% recyclable, the thermal and luminous performances of the textile material allow precious energy savings in heating/air conditioning and lighting.