The Rive de Seine Tower is located along the Seine at the intersection between the Quai de la Rapée and Rue Van Gogh, between the Gare de Lyon and the Gare Austerlitz. The transformation of this office building is not just the redefinition of a landmark, it is the possibility of restoring and reattaching a lost piece to its city.

The rehabilitation and mutation of existing buildings, in addition to their obvious ecological and environmental interest, are fertile experiences for innovation, real creative adventures where the architectural project is built in nonlinear stages.

To respond to the various challenges, the design process must leave the funnel narrative of scales – which would think first of the territory or the city to arrive in linear stages at the building, the window, and then the detail – to adopt a hyper-reactive strategy of adaptation, totally open to the discovery and opportunities of the existing. As mentioned above, the project is told through a strategy of cause and effect.

The narrative begins with two parallel explorations: that of a façade solution and that of an optimal distributional system. These two investigations generated a succession of actions and reactions whose impact goes beyond the specific problem and into the urban, environmental, and functional approach.

The façade, the surface, the open space, and the gardens: how to deal with climate and energy challenges with minimal sun protection while enjoying maximum views of Paris? The solution to this first problem is a new element: the bow window. The bow window, by thickening the new façade, also generates a gain in surface area, and this gain in surface area associated with the reduction in technical premises, opens to the possibility of completely reconfiguring the first levels of the building. Action – Reaction. The outcome: more free space, more light, more quality for the same amount of space. Two new gardens have taken the place of the old forecourt and the old base: on the quay and in the heart of the block they resonate with the surrounding spaces.

Now available for the city, the block gains in urbanity. The neighborhood apartment building, a vestige of the previous urbanisation, is shown and overlooks a green space. The link between the Lyon and Austerlitz stations is enriched by a new space that punctuates the route, a counterpart to the station square. Users benefit from planted outdoor spaces and Parisians who use the platform as a cycle path will now pass through an urban wood.

Thus, the overall biotope coefficient of the site is increased by 16% (11% at present, 27% for the design project). At the same time, this reinforcement of the plant life is the essential and lasting condition for offering more resilient outdoor spaces in the face of heat waves.

Client : Société Foncière Lyonnaise / Budget : 78M € HT / Surface : 25 693 m² /
Team : LAN (Commissioning Architect), G.V.I (Economist), INEX (M.E.P), Batiserf (structural engineers), Franck Boutté Consultant (HEQ), T/E/S/S (Facade), Cabinet Jean-Paul Lamoureux (Acoustic), Michel Desvigne (Landscape), Casso (Security and Accessibility)