Year: 2013

Location: Marseille, France

Country: France

Owner Builder: Euroméditerranée

Contractor: Eiffage Travaux Publoc

Designer: Ingerop

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Problem / Solution

The roof of the Théatre des Docks (Joliette) is in reality a place named Henry Verneuil defined to be a connection between the tramway stations and a giant stair that leads to the entering of the theater, a level below. To make this possible, the filling on the roof of the theater has been designed to be as light as possible to avoid expensive theater’s structure to support heavy filling. The project of the roof-terrace was executed with coverage of expanded clay, a stable solution, lightweight and fire resistant.

Experience

Delivery and rapid implementation of 1.500 m³ has been successful thanks to the low-dust packaging solution: big bag of 3 m³ from Portugal. A crane has transported and positioned the lightweight filling directly from the trucks to the final position on the roof. Each delivery represents 60 m³. It is an operation carried out in only 25 rotations on site within 10 days, which was corresponding perfectly to the constraints of traffic, site access and site space.

Why expanded clay?

Expanded clay is the combination of lightness and strength that permit to fill up to 1 m up on the roof and build a stable and place. The non combustible nature of expanded clay provides complete protection against fire. The filling is long-term stable. The filling is then covered with a slab of aesthetic concrete. First this disseminates the loads on the lightweight embankment and second gives the final appearance of the place. Expanded clay is 100% recyclable and can allow future projects on the roof without the needs of specialized recycling.