The programmatic mix between the office building and the activities on the ground floor thus takes advantage of this formal intelligence inherent in the context (adaptation of scale, treatment, position and relationship to the street).

A real hinge, the project is dressed in a double industrial and urban language: by its programme, by its form, by its relationship to the street and to the neighbouring buildings. Vertically, the relationship is then articulated between this semi-industrial base and the activity of the office building on the upper levels.

The comb - A façade that dialogues

The project is located at the northern and western limits of the plot, occupying almost the entire floor area of the block. In order to reinforce the urban qualities of the site, the building is developed in line with the public roads.

The volume imagined is therefore simple and divided into three bands with semi-cylindrical roofs that flirt with the imagination of the winter garden by interacting with the industrial productivity of the neighbourhood. It acts as a marker and identification of the building through a strong, contemporary architectural party in coherence with the history of the district. Offering generous volumes, this figure also makes it possible, by blurring the scales, to preserve a medium-sized gauge on the street.

Reversal of the generic form

By reversing the logic of the courtyard building, a generic form inherited from the norms and standards of office construction, the objective is to offer optimal working conditions while fitting in with this vast and composite environment.

A simple volume is generated, developing at the boundaries of the plots of land, in which a play of full and empty spaces is installed, a "comb" figure whose modules are sized by the application of the office grid. A building that forms a central body 18 metres wide from which four arms 12 metres wide emerge perpendicularly. The whole is articulated by voids.

Rationalised voids

This figure is the result of reflection on the street, the courtyard and the place of vegetation. It creates interstitial green spaces treated as winter gardens, 6 gardens with a total surface area of approximately 1,600m², onto which the office floors open.

It is these informal, interstitial spaces that are at the heart of the project. Designed as communication fringes with the neighbourhood, they create a special dialogue with the surroundings. These spaces, treated as winter gardens, make the building special. They project an original and mixed image and turn the project and its neighbourhood towards the future.

Through an envelope common to the entire structure, the gardens, themed according to their orientation on the plot, articulate the entire project and establish a system of relationships between the building and its environment, between the building and its base.

Client: ICADE / Budget: €30M excl. tax / Surface area: 13 748 m² / Schedule: 2020-2025 / Team: BATISERF (Structure), INEX (Fluids), BMF (Economy), MICHEL DESVIGNE (Landscape), T/E/S/S (Facades), LAMOUREUX (Acoustics), CASSO (Fire Safety and Accessibility), BUREAU VERITAS (Technical Control), FRANCK BOUTTE CONSULTANTS (Environment)