One of the main design concerns was the building’s environmental adaptation and appropriation.

The site slopes down three metres towards the west, offering attractive views over the neighbouring hills.

We wanted an office environment opens to the outdoor green spaces, a project which benefits from the natural, lights and colours, and respects the landscape while inserting a new constructed “object” within it.

Thus we imagined the building as a sort of line that simultaneously follows the skyline and the ground.

We separate the space into two distinct volumes: offices in the upper area and the workshop volume anchored to the ground.

This separation also corresponded to the different needs of the two areas in terms of lights, spatial capacities, finishing qualities, etc.

One of the volumes contains flexible work spaces while the other encloses a showroom, maintenance space and storage areas. The offices occupy the upper area of the site and are raised above ground level to provide an impression of lightness. The workshop volume is located at a lower level and gives the appearance of being solidly anchored to the ground. The intersection of the two volumes serves as the entrance, with a sloped ramp rising up into the building.

Interiors have some kind of formal clarity due to the use of concrete and white walls, transparent doors for the offices and an overall industrial wooden floor and regular artificial lights that accentuate the space. The openings towards the outside are used as elements which participate in the spatial composition of the interior, which are maintained voluntarily intentionally.

Structure

The building has a simple structure using a mixed steel/concrete technique.

The cantilever for example, is suspended by a steel beam, while a central concrete wall balance all the construction.

From a construction point of view the most interesting architectural details are those allowing the volumes drawing: connection between elevations and the roof, the large areas of glass in the work spaces facades and the concrete treatment (the elevations and roof are completely constructed from black painted concrete. The roof finish allow it be read as the building’s fifth elevation).

Client: Marchesini Group / Cost: € 1.7M excl. VAT / Surface: 1250 m² / Schedule: 2006 – 2008 / Structure: Batiserf Ingénierie / M.E.P.: Choulet / Entreprise: Dutheuil Construction