Ancient Theatre of Arles
Since 2008 Arkheïa has been involved in the renovation of the Arles amphitheatre with the SELE company. 2009 saw Arkheïa take part in the renovation of the ancient theatre in the same town, in partnership with the company MARIANI. The project manager was Francois Botton, chief architect for listed buildings and Guillaume Avenard, another architect.
As is their wont, Arkheïa started the project with their characteristic approach.
The first stage was that of listening and exchanging ideas so that specifications could be drawn up including all the requirements that concrete must meet.
• Material which behaves like self compacting concrete, with the possibility of being poured onto sloping surfaces.
• Retains marks and effects applied
• Authentic appearance to blend with new and old parts (varying particle size and batch colouring)
• Easy to use (in the cement mixer)
A second stage of research and development has allowed concretes to be made responding to the specifications.
Resistance and durability tests have of course been carried out on these formulations in order to ensure that these products last. In order to reproduce the appearance of aged stone, different colours have been created. Particles of coloured marble have been used in order to increase the durability of the foundation slabs made.
The third stage offered has been the presentation of the formulation the best suited to the theatre’s r
equirements. This has been directly implemented by the building site team who observed how easy to use the concrete was and how good the result. After some slight adjustments to the colour as required by ACMH (Mr Botton), the formulation was approved.
The fourth stage was making and supplying 12 tonnes of ready to use concrete developed specially for Mariani and meeting both their needs and the ACMH requirements.
Finally, the last stage involved Arkheïa listening and giving advice to the teams on the ground in order to refine their approach.
The material is technically and aesthetically high performing and means that flagstones can be created that completely meet the needs and respect the environment of the ancient theatre. Over time, these flagstones become more shiny and the distinction between the stone flagstones and those in concrete is less and less obvious.
