Heritage Reimagined

Beneath the vaults, learning takes root

For Katch Me in Bordeaux, we transformed 230m² of vaulted cellar into a turnkey learning lab, where 16 workstations orchestrate the transmission of knowledge beneath the sandblasted stone.

230 m²
5 months
2023

industriel_chic

Concept

The Bordeaux cellar becomes a collaborative lab

Sandblasting and renovation of the vaulted cellar nComplete fit-out from cladding to building services through to the furniturenTurnkey

Situation

KATCH ME, a Bordeaux-based professional training organisation, has since 2023 occupied a 230 sq m vaulted cellar refurbished for 16 employees. The site presented two raw realities: exposed concrete flooring and a stone masonry vault over a metre thick, with no mechanical ventilation and no networks sized for continuous office use.

The chosen approach inverted the usual conversion logic: instead of lining the stone to meet office standards, Kytom sandblasted the vaults to expose them and concentrated services in the ceiling and perimeter. A turnkey design and build mission, five calendar months, from sandblasting to furniture. The prior declaration, mandatory in Bordeaux’s protected sector, locked in appearance decisions before any intervention.

230 sq m of raw concrete and vaulting to transform in five months

Three simultaneous constraints structured the project. The stone vault, an identity anchor, had to remain visible: any full lining would have made it disappear. The 16 operational workstations required mechanical ventilation to be created from scratch, with humidity management of a Bordeaux basement prone to rising damp.

The budget and functional brief left little margin on an old building whose load-bearing capacity and rising damp only reveal themselves once test pits are opened. The prior declaration, filed upstream, locked the palette of exposed materials before the first hammer blow.

Two structuring decisions: sandblasting the vaults, services in the perimeter plenum

The project rests on two choices that shaped the rest of the schedule. First choice: sandblast the stone masonry rather than render or line it. This decision, taken after stripping and mapping the vaults, required micro-abrasion cleaning across the entire volume, followed by repointing with lime mortar compatible with the building’s hygrometric breathing.

The Bordeaux basement tolerates no watertight lining: rising damp would have been trapped. Second choice: route all networks into a perimeter plenum and technical false ceilings, without piercing the vault. High- and low-voltage electrics, scalable IT cabling for digital teaching uses, plumbing and mechanical ventilation sized for 16 simultaneous workstations were all run along the perimeter.

This constraint removed any freedom for heavy partitioning: the interior separations combine fixed partitions at the perimeter and movable partitions in the centre, to allow variable room configurations depending on training sessions. Lighting, paint, floor coverings and new furniture, chosen as a visual counterpoint to the sandblasted stone, closed the operation.

Fifteen trades were synchronised on a cramped site, with a single point of contact for KATCH ME through to handover.

Delivered 2023, 95% reusable furniture, 90% recyclable

The operation was delivered in 2023 within the five-month envelope set at the outset, with the 16 workstations installed and operational from commercial opening.

The decision to sandblast rather than line produced two measurable effects beyond aesthetics: the exposed vault functions as a teaching tool for sessions on heritage buildings, and the absence of heavy partitioning has already allowed two reconfigurations since handover without any finishing trades.

The materials assessment extends this logic: the vaulted cellar and existing masonry were preserved and revealed rather than demolished, and 30% of the integrated components come from recycled sources. Of the new furniture installed, 95% is reusable at the end of its first life, 90% recyclable and 90% repairable, extending the floorplate’s useful horizon beyond the standard amortisation cycle.

230

sq m transformed

months of work

workstations