French architect Paul Coudamy has converted this former butcher’s shop in suburban Paris into a private residence and included mysterious figures in the photographs (+ slideshow).
Paul Coudamy renovated the old charcuterie in Bagnolet into a home by adding a spiralling oak staircase and a bookcase with moving sections.
“Renovating professional premises to change them into living accommodation is now a frequent occurrence in Paris and its surrounding suburbs, an exercise in architecture that requires thinking of new concepts of living, interchanging private life and public life,” said the designer.
The Blur home was converted for a motorbike enthusiast, for whom Coudamy created a garage in the previous doorway to store his vehicle.
The designer also installed a tilted mirror above the bookshelf so the owner can keep an eye on his parked bike while relaxing in his armchair.
Sitting and reading areas are located behind the large shop window facing onto the street.
Alternate cubby holes in the wooden bookshelf are fitted with pivoting metal boxes, which can be tucked away to save space or pulled out to create a more interesting display.
The same wood and metal are used for the spiral staircase, which has fan-shaped treads that get smaller towards the top.
This staircase leads up to a bathroom, partitioned with screens covered in a condensation pattern.
Surfaces on the ground floor have been retained from the building’s former use, including wall and floor tiles plus large metal refrigerator doors.
Paul Coudamy has transformed a butcher shop in Bagnolet, France, into a private home. Renovating professional premises to change them into living accommodation is now a frequent occurrence in Paris and its surrounding suburbs, an exercise in architecture that requires thinking of new concepts of living, interchanging private life and public life. Blur is therefore a transparent environment made up of spaces that never totally discloses its fragile privacy. It is formed of a continuous succession of concrete and glass symbolising a period that combines work and pleasure in a single movement.
On the ground floor the former boutique fronted by a shop window has been turned into a sitting-room/library with a storefront, directly connected to the specifically created garage: the owner is devoted to his motorbike, it is therefore no surprise that he has placed a mirror above his books to be able to keep an eye on his pride and joy from the comfort of his armchair!
The bookshelves designed by Paul Coudamy are based on a wooden structure into which the architect has fitted pivoting metal boxes. The principle enables greater storage capacity and the façade is permanently redefined as books are sought out. There is a set of suspended boxes levitating between the ground and the ceiling, some inside and some outside.
Metal and wood are repeated for the oak staircase connecting the ground floor and the first floor in an open-sided bespoke spiral, a natural upward surge into space. It forms a beautifully designed raw metal backbone to the building cutting a contrast with the vernacular tone.
Lastly, the bathroom upstairs that Paul Coudamy has created combines both dry and wet areas. He has used a composite trompe l’œil partition in a permanent state of condensation as a border that will always be dry/wet. It is again continuity between two functions, spaces and visual impressions.
During the last Furniture Fair in Milan, Jean Nouvel made an appeal to reconvert and to make work premises and residential accommodation more inseparable: the natural movement of urban aesthetics exploding with vitality to adapt to new space constraints.
French studio TVK has overhauled the Place de la République in Paris to create an even larger pedestrian plaza that includes a new cafe pavilion, water features and over 150 trees (+ slideshow).
TVK‘s largest intervention was to adapt the surrounding road layout to make more pedestrian-priority areas. This increased the size of the square to 280 metres wide by 120 metres long, making it the largest pedestrian space in the city.
“The redevelopment of the Place de la République is based on the concept of an open space with multiple urban uses,” said the architects.
“The elimination of the traffic circle frees the site from the dominating constraint of motor vehicle traffic. The creation of the concourse marks the return of calm in an airy, uncluttered two hectare space,” they added.
The new cafe has been added to the south-west side of the square. Named Monde & Médias Pavilion, which translates as World and Media Pavilion, it was designed to host different public activities.
All four sides of the building are glazed to allow views through. A solid canopy cantilevers from one side to create a sheltered seating area and its underside is clad with reflective aluminium.
French studio NP2F Architectes designed the interior of the cafe, which features a fluted marble bar, wooden chairs and an assortment of plants.
Three different kinds of concrete slabs were used to create the surface of the square and are interspersed with plane trees, honey locust trees and lighting columns.
A circular water basin has been added around the nineteenth century statue at the centre of the square, while the a second water feature comprises a plane of water covering a small area outside the cafe.
Monde & Medias Pavilion and Place de la République, Paris
TVK hand over the redevelopment of the Place de la République, inaugurated by the mayor of Paris on June 2013.
Due to its exceptional size (120m by nearly 300m), its symbolic dimension as a representative public statement and its location in the city, the Place de la République occupies a special place in the international hub that is Paris.
The redevelopment of the Place de la République is based on the concept of an open space with multiple urban uses. The elimination of the traffic circle frees the site from the dominating constraint of motor vehicle traffic. The creation of the concourse marks the return of calm in an airy, uncluttered two hectare space. The new square, now skirted by motor traffic, creates a large-scale landscape and becomes an urban resource, available and adaptable for different uses. Clear connections with the large boulevards promote a new balance centred on soft transport for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.
The statue of Marianne, the reflective pool, the pavilion and the rows of the trees form a strong axis. This harmony is amplified by the serene balance of the mineral element and a very gentle slope of 1%. All these elements contribute to both the interpretation of unitary materials in a perennial and contemporary manner and multiple explorations (colours, water, lights) creating different urban ambiances. The Place de la République is now the largest pedestrian square in Paris.
The south-west part of the square houses a 162 m² pavilion, a unique building, glazed throughout to retain a continuous impression of this singular space. The pavilion was conceived and designed by TVK Architectes Urbanistes. It’s interior layout has been designed by NP2F architectes.
The articulation of public and pedestrian areas
Abandoning the traffic circle model
The redevelopment of the Place de la République is based on a decision to create the largest possible public pedestrian area. Paris was in need of an exceptionally large and versatile public place, like an open field in the heart of the city, a feature found in many other large cities. Also, it was essential to move away from the traffic circle model.
Functional & environmental dissymmetry
Two-fold dissymmetry, both functional and environmental, is used along the long axis of the square to blend it into the general urban setting.
Motor traffic has been reorganised. It now runs along the southern edge and two smaller sides of the square only. Now that the traffic runs in both directions and the pavements have been widened, the road is much more similar to the large Parisian boulevards.
Unity and balance
The Place de la République is also open to varied groups participating in a very wide range of activities. The aim of the project was to cater for these users by changing the balance between the roadway and the concourse. The most important challenge was to reunify and harmonise the attributes of a city with those of a local neighbourhood.
The pavilion’s design
In line with the principles adopted in the redevelopment of the Place de la République, the “Monde & Médias” Pavilion is a perennial building, designed to last. It is scalable and adaptable, but also is a strong presence, opening onto the square. It is the only edifice in the new square. The Pavilion is sited on the southwest part, in line with the reflective pool and the statue de la Republique. It is fully glazed so as not to obscure the view and provides a continuous vista of the square. The pavilion houses a “World & Media” themed café and its entirely modular interior can host a wide variety of festive, social and cultural events and uses in all seasons and all weathers.
The pavilion is assertively simple in design, comprising a closed volume, 9.29m by 18.20m and 3m high, and a 0.75m-thick roof with an 8.70m cantilever.
The pavilion’s envelope is entirely glazed. The visual impact of its structural assembly is minimal, so as not to perturb the prismatic appearance of the overall volume: the metallic elements are integrated to a maximum and the opening zones are concentrated to create an image of large glazed planes jointed together.
The supporting structure also participates in this self-effacement to achieve transparency: reduced to four small-diameter metallic posts at the corners, it is similar in design to the metallic elements. The roof band is composed of aluminium sheeting whose assemblage is invisible, with its horizontal and vertical aluminium rigidifying elements following the same rhythm as that of the glazed panels.
The cantilever’s underside is clad with large sheets of perforated aluminium. Echoing the large symmetrical composition of the Place de la République, the space’s interior organisation is dictated by a partition dividing it lengthways into two distinct and symmetrical areas.
Composition of the area and surface
The surface
The surface consists of paving slabs of different colours and sizes. The shady areas of the square are paved mostly in darker colours, while the open areas are generally paler.
The choice of prefabricated concrete ensures good performance in all weather, offering maximum resistance to the greatest variety of uses. This material also enables the use of monochrome colours, creating continuity with the surrounding surfaces of roads and roofs.
Three types of concrete paving slabs have been used in the square, reflecting its overall layout: – “large module” prefabricated slabs in the centre of the concourse, to give a wide perspective and cater for large-scale uses, – “medium module” prefabricated slabs for the rest of the esplanade along the concourse, – and lastly, “small module” prefabricated slabs (on a more ordinary scale) for the north and south pavements. The bus lane to the north of the square is made of poured concrete.
Before and after photographs
Levels
The density of the networks present under the Place de la République mean it also serves as a “roof”: the site is home to five Metro lines, sewers, telecom tunnels, etc. The levels create a main movement of great simplicity, vital to the spatial comprehension of the square and an understanding of its vastness. The simple 1% incline of the central concourse reveals two wide terraces at the back of the esplanade, in keeping with the scale of the surrounding area. The terraces continue the concourse but are edged to the north with steps. Between these terraces, the ground drops consistently towards the two large palace buildings and the shared trafficked area (pedestrians, cycles, buses, taxis), providing continuity of traffic flow and excellent accessibility.
Design diagram
A large garden, a large concourse
The square is unified by the single grand compositional movement and the one inorganic surface treatment. This unity helps to indicate three distinct sections: the urban garden of over 2,000 m2, planted and organised into several sub-areas; the central concourse of almost 12,000 m2 and 35 metres wide with the statue de la Republique as the focal point; the continuity of all the boulevards, with the road system on three of its sides and the widened pavement (13 metres on the longer side to the south west, which is the busiest side).
The terraces on the Place de la République
At the rear end of the esplanade, two flat terraces are each marked by a single step on three of their sides, which conducive to sitting and socialising. The new tree planting establishes a specific ambiance. The terraces will be equipped with movable structures expressing day-to-day and local themes, and changing with the seasons (roundabout, toy library etc.).
The playground is now located on the east terrace.
Water – in various forms and with a myriad of uses (climatic, social, recreational, aesthetic) – is a key feature of the central esplanade.
The monument basin
The statue de la Republique dominates the centre of the new pedestrian esplanade. The new base takes the form of a large circular basin, at the edge of which visitors can sit, walk, play, or examine the bas-reliefs.
During the summer months, it is filled with water, adding to the number of uses. The base also houses a new lighting system for the statue. Spotlights, sunk under the sheet of water, project moving reflections over the entire monument.
On the west concourse of the esplanade, facing the Monde & Médias Pavilion, the theme of water is repeated in a minimal, contemporary version. In summer, a fine sheet of water runs down the 1% slope, covering an area of more than 270m2 (23mx12m). Sprays are connected to this sheet of water. When switched off, they affect neither the topography nor the uses of the concourse, so are almost imperceptible.
Every year, the experience of travel becomes easier and—dare we say it—even more fun, thanks to an influx of innovative apps, new thinking in hotel design and more. Between the major travel headlines of 2013—like American Airlines and US Airways finally receiving the green light for their merger making them…
Chateau rouge, Ernestine, Charbonnière, Myrha—these names no longer refer exclusively to the streets of the popular Paris neighborhood La Goutte d’Or in the 18th arrondissement, as they have been given to the first bottles of beer made 100% in central Paris. With the…
Strange hollow figures made from folded pieces of carpet line the walls of this exhibition at Galerie Michel Rein in Paris by Portuguese artist Didier Faustino (+ slideshow).
Didier Faustino used low-cost materials including second hand rugs and carpets from trade suppliers to create the empty suits for the exhibition, which is titled We Can’t Go Home Again.
Some of the figures are made with the carpet backing facing outwards and the coloured surface visible through various holes where the face, hands and feet would be, while others feature colourful exteriors.
“The exhibition We Can’t Go Home Again mobilises the signs of our familiar environment but strives to turn it inside out literally like a glove, projecting the visitor into an unstable universe,” said Galerie Michel Rein.
Most of the figures are held together using cable ties, but coarse string connects the pieces of an oriental rug that form a figure lying in the centre of one of the spaces.
The folded forms resembling soft suits of armour are supported by an internal metal framework.
Also included in the show is a large artwork comprising a wrinkled metallic sheet positioned against a wall with a board featuring the phrase “the show must go home” in cutout letters leaning against it.
The exhibition is on show at Galerie Michel Rein until 11 January 2014.
For his second solo show at Michel Rein (after The Wild Things, 2011), Didier Faustino invites us to step outside of our homes and penetrate an ambiguous world, which strangely resembles our own but is haunted by other versions of us bearing armour built from the materials of our own homes.
The exhibition We Can’t Go Home Again mobilises the signs of our familiar environment but strives to turn it inside out literally like a glove, projecting the visitor into an unstable universe. Alternately summoning Absalon, in particular his series Cells, and the performances where Joseph Beuys, wrapped up in his felt cover, shuts himself away in a gallery, Didier Faustino’s exhibition plays on the motives of hindrance, movement and inversion.
The semantics of the titles beckon to be heard. The name Home reoccurs like a litany which is apparently gentle and discreetly discordant. In this manner the show must not “go on”, as the saying goes, but rather “go home” (The Show Must Go Home). This home is however declared inaccessible (We Can’t Go Home Again), and its proverbial sweetness has transformed into a suit (Home Suit Home). Whilst circulating between these titles, the meaning shifts, themes of habitat and comfort rub up against those of appearance and the irreversible.
However, the installation is characterised by its reversibility. In the same way that the home finds itself alternately represented as a dwelling to occupy and an impossible destination, the anthropomorphic figures occupying the main space of the gallery constitute both interiors and exteriors, containers and contents. They invoke strange stories: which man is of the type who’s made himself from this soft armour? Against which insidious peril? Against what disaster is he looking to survive? Which sophisticated means enabled him to design the skilful patron?
Protection built from typical flooring of our abodes shows the opposite and seems to both arm against the dangers and point out their nature. Our models of home, our way of organising and housing our bodies, our spectacular edifices and the constraints opposed to our flesh are all effectively concerned here. Didier Faustino’s combinations somewhat toughen the architectural intention, to a point which expresses a categorical criticism of domestic planning.
If we recognise the transgressive relationship of the artist to architecture, we also find the worrying strangeness which characterises his work as a visual artist.
Multiplying effects on meaning, the pieces of the installation lie within a resolutely experimental and multiform work in progress, which maintains a brotherly relationship with the unfinished opus of the film-director Nicholas Ray, to whom the exhibition’s title pays homage.
Strangely worried in front of our flats and our offices, which have suddenly been made inhospitable, we are led to think of the lives which light up our familiar decor and of the fictional borders which supposedly separate art from our lives and political decisions from our esthetical models.
The interior of Dutch fashion house Viktor & Rolf‘s first flagship store in Paris has been covered in grey felt by French studio Architecture & Associés.
Architecture & Associés was asked to create an unobtrusive design for the duo’s recently opened store on Rue Saint-Honoré, close to Paris’ famous shopping square Place Vendôme.
“We said we would like a store that’s invisible or a store that’s hardly there because often we find store designs very intrusive and just too much,” Viktor & Rolf co-founder Viktor Horsting told Dezeen.
Grey was chosen to line the interior as it provided a simple environment to showcase the duo’s products and is also used in the set designs of the brand’s catwalk shows.
“We wanted to create an environment where the clothes would really stand out,” said Horsting. “Grey is a very good colour as a backdrop because it’s very neutral. It’s a total surreal experience because you’re in an environment that’s entirely made out of fabric, but at the same time it’s something architectural. We like that surrealism.”
The store houses men and women’s ready-to-wear clothing, accessories such as bags and shoes, plus the brand’s line of fragrances.
Neoclassical elements such as arched niches along the walls and a colonnade of arches running over the staircase create shadows to break up the monochrome.
Shelves for displaying products sit in the niches, some of which are illuminated with white light from behind similar to the ceiling panels.
The felt also muffles the sounds of browsing shoppers in an attempt to make the large 650-square-metre store feel more intimate.
“We wanted to emphasise the personal experience of shopping,” Horsting said. “I have to say that it was a little bit of a guess. Of course we thought that the felt would change certain acoustics of the space but we couldn’t really imagine it, so when we were there over the weekend we were glad to hear that the effect was as we had hoped.”
“You’re really by yourself even though it’s a big space, and even though the architecture is rigorous and graphic, it’s not imposing or too grand,” he continued. “It’s really an intimate place. It’s quite beautiful.”
The store opened last week to coincide with Viktor & Rolf’s twentieth anniversary, which was also marked by the house’s return to haute couture in July. The designers will show their Spring 2014 collection in January next year.
Read on for more information from the team behind the design:
The store will be on Rue Saint-Honoré, just a stone’s throw from the Place Vendôme.
The miscellanea of the Viktor & Rolf world will all be available at the boutique: men and women’s ready-to-wear, shoes, the iconic “Bombette” line of bags and leather goods, glasses, accessories and of course, the line of fragrances.
Driven by a taste for the paradoxical, the designers desired an eternal environment for their ever-changing collections, in their own words: “a striking world where every and anybody’s desires or fantasies can be borne upon what we do”.
The innovative design, conceived by Pierre Beucler and Jean-Christophe Poggioli of Architecture & Associés, combines the palatial grandeur of Renaissance Italy with the classicism of the French tradition for a startlingly avant-garde universe.
The spirit of unorthodox innovation that has always driven Viktor & Rolf, whose work has often been characterised by its subtle exploration of scale and shadow, inspired the architects towards a spectral architecture crafted entirely of grey felt. This single-material strategy makes for a phantasmagorical space of shifting apparitions where the uniform surface of the walls, floors and furniture, as a kind of all-enveloping interior skin, creates the effect of complete unity.
TBWA a organisé une installation sur le quai du métro de la station Odéon à Paris racontant une histoire tragique, celle d’un humanitaire d’Action Contre la Faim, abattu d’une balle en pleine tête. La balle traverse le quai sur plusieurs affiches, explosant tour à tour des symboles de l’aide apportée aux plus démunis.
Bands of light shine through the perforated metal facade of this sports hall by French studio Ateliers O-S Architectes in north-west Paris (+ slideshow).
Located beside a railway embankment in Asnières-sur-Seine, the Gymnase Curie provides a flexible games hall for a nearby school and was designed by Ateliers O-S Architectes to be “visually homogeneous” to its surroundings.
The facade is glazed at street level to reveal the building’s activities to pedestrians walking by, while the remaining sections of the walls are uniformly clad with the perforated metal panels.
Fluorescent tubes are arranged vertically behind the panels to create the illuminated stripes, allowing the building to glow after dark.
“Emerging from the railway embankment as a rock with straight edges, the gymnasium manifests itself through its massive aspect, leaning over an illuminated rift that shows the interior activities,” explained the architects.
Behind the facade, the building has a timber roof structure that is exposed across the ceiling of the hall.
Clerestory windows bring daylight in from the east, reducing the need for artificial lighting.
Changing rooms, storage areas and bathrooms wrap the south and east sides of the building, while a small public square frames the main entrance.
Here’s more information from Ateliers O-S Architectes:
Gymnse Scolaire Zac Bords de Seine
The site is characterised by three special features that led our intentions: » Its dimension: a narrow piece of land, 30m width and 250m long, along a railway embankment » Its orientation: the site opens to the south on the river La Seine » A breach generated by the western entrance of the new district under the embankment
The urban challenge was to develop a coherent project on the site scale that uses these features. The breach becomes a unifying square, a strong link between the gymnasium and the outdoor playgrounds. The length of the site is organised by a sequence of wooden planted wall.
Emerging from the railway embankment as a rock with straight edges, the gymnasium manifests itself through its massive aspect leaning over an illuminated rift that shows the interior activities.
The sports hall, that we wanted visually homogeneous, is located along the street, creating a strong visual link between the city and the gymnasium. Around are organised the changing rooms, the facilities and other additional rooms.
The street facades are composed by two levels: a glassed low level that brings life to the street at pedestrian scale, and a high massive level composed of metallic punched panels that highlight the building with vertical lights.
The structure is made of a wooden framework leaning over a concrete basement along the railway. The high laminated timber beams appears on the roof, giving rhythm and depth. This project is a simple answer to sustainable development concerns and to a particular urban context.
Curving iridescent structures resembling the scaled bodies of a pair of dragons slump over the top of this new wing created by French studio Agence Jouin Manku at an office campus outside Paris (+ slideshow).
Agence Jouin Manku was asked to design a new amenities wing for the headquarters of Société Foncière Lyonnaise, France’s oldest property company, which is housed within a converted 1920s factory building on the banks of the Seine in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Entitled In/Out, the new wing comprises a curving three-storey building that revolves around a tube-shaped concrete tower. Blocks extend out from both sides of the tower and are both topped with curving structures clad with shimmering stainless-steel shingles.
“The roof is designed like a shell made of scales,” Aude Planterose of Agence Jouin Manku told Dezeen. “We can’t ignore the reference to an animal; it could be a beetle or a dragon.”
The iridescent tiles appear green when viewed straight on, but change colour from blue to purple when viewed at an angle.
“The building changes each time that you look at it,” said Planterose. “These tiles are perfect for facade or roof, and it is actually the same technique used for the slate tiles you find on all Parisian rooftops.”
Below the tiles, the glazed exterior walls are screened with vertical timber slats that vary in density depending of the lighting requirements of the rooms behind, which include cafe and restaurant facilities for the offices, as well as new boardrooms and a 200-seat auditorium.
A staircase connecting the floors of both blocks is contained within the central concrete tower, while a footbridge creates a link between the new and old buildings at first-floor level.
Agence Jouin Manku also renovated the lobby of the original building, adding new seating areas and a large oval reception deck.
This space leads through to a courtyard, where the architects have constructed a glazed pavilion supported by a lattice of branch-like wooden beams that meets the ground at only one point.
Photography is by Thierry Lewenberg-Sturm.
Here’s a project description from Jouin Manku:
IN/OUT by Agence Jouin Manku
An office “campus”, for Société Foncière Lyonnaise, an ambitious architectural project including the transformation of the lobby with the construction of a glass microarchitecture as well as the creation of a new wing.
80 years of history
Built in 1927 by the architect Adolphe Bocage, this building, a landmark of the golden age of industry, had long been used to produce telephone control units. Located on the banks of the Seine, the site, with nearly 7 acres and a 6-storey building, used to hold the lMT society (le Matériel Téléphonique). The building soon became a symbol of industrial innovation.
The site had been designed in keeping with the great principles of the Modern Movement in architecture using simple geometrical shapes, and reinforced concrete. In 1976, Thomson-CsF took control over lMT, who, at the time, employed 10 000 people.
In 1988, seventy years after its construction, Thomson Multimedia transformed the factory into offices and set up its headquarters in the building, until 2009. SFL then decided to restructure the building, aiming for it to become a benchmark in the tertiary sector, focusing on innovation as well as on wellbeing at work. It is this ambitious decision that gave birth to the major IN/OUT project.
The site’s new organisation
After our first commission to design a series of spaces for the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Paris, Société Foncière Lyonnaise (SFL), has asked us once again to embark on another adventure. This time, they have commissioned us to design a new amenities wing of their ambitious In/Out office campus, a landmark office project that is re-defining work spaces in France which houses a cafe, restaurant, board rooms, an auditorium as well as various technical spaces and the lobby, with his pavilion, of the historical building.
The IN/OUT project involves an office campus of more than 387 500 square feet. It is located on a former industrial site in Boulogne, at the West of Paris, on the right bank of the Seine River. This factory, which used to manufacture telephone tools in the 1930s, underwent a complete rehabilitation done by DTACC Architecture, such as many industrial sites in Boulogne.
Visitors enter the historical building and are welcomed into a large vast space similar to a hotel lobby. At the entrance lies a large oval desk that leads visitors to what used to be an exterior courtyard. In the courtyard one discovers a surprising micro-architecture: a glass pavilion that is held up by a series of intertwined and woven wood beams. An ethereal floating lattice which at one point swoops down and gently balances on the floor below on just one point. This new glass canopy in the central courtyard, creates a natural transition between the lobby of the historical building and the amenities wing.
This new amenities wing is nearly 40 000 sq ft.including the interiors. This building was further developed in collaboration with the engineering office TESS for the structural elements and the skin of the building and with architectural agency DTACC for the technical development and architectural execution.
The amenities wing
Agence Jouin Manku has conceived the new amenities wing (nearly 40 000 sq ft.), as well as the interior design of the wing. The building has been further developed in collaboration with the engineering office TESS and DTACC. The new wing also holds a series of services and amenities, alongside the workspaces within the ‘Bocage’ building (thus completing the IN/OUT campus). The wing holds: a 103 seats cafe, a 462 seats restaurant, a 200 seats auditorium, as well as corporate board rooms, lounges, 2 large terraces and a fitness centre.
A dynamic shape, symbol of an avant-garde building
How can workspaces in big companies be improved? What is missing? This interrogation has guided the design of the amenities wing. Agence Jouin Manku decided to create a very different atmosphere to complement the ‘Bocage’ building. This gives employees a healthy balance between formal and informal, as well as between work and play, an idea at the heart of the In/Out Campus.
The structure of the ‘Bocage’ building evokes nostalgia, professionalism and rigour. In contrast, the new wing has been conceived as a building of contemporary architecture, designed around the idea of movement and flow. Its shape has been made to create a series of intertwined spaces. The building is organised around the idea of passage: passing of people, light and air. It is also a place which evokes movement, production, action and dynamism.
The concrete heart: the centre of the building
The building is organised around a central tower, made of bush hammered concrete, which holds all vertical circulation. The choice to use concrete for the centre of the building was to create a coherence and dialogue with the neighbouring ‘Bocage’ building, which is made of the same material and clearly shows its original industrial character. Two wings revolve and wrap around the central tower, but they never meet. Their architectural lines are softer and each wing is a curved form, made of curved glass and vertical wood cladding. The spaces between the concrete centre and the wood wings are filled with glass, which allows light to penetrate almost everywhere in the building, vertically or horizontally.
On the outside, the density of the vertical wood cladding increases and decreases, depending on its position, and which indoor space it corresponds to. The pattern starts out smoothly, then its texture, created by adding chamfers, changes. These edges catch light differently and create a sense of depth on the facade. Inside, the main materials are wood, bush hammered concrete, plaster and curved glass. The curved wood that wraps a large part of the interior adds to the sense of warmth, while the simple use of glass and concrete add a crisp modernity to the project. A footbridge connects the two buildings. This bridge, made of white painted steel and wood, makes access easy between the two buildings, and acts as a symbolic link betweenthe two architectural signatures, and the birth of a common project.
An architecture inspired By nature: an inside out and outside in design
Inspired by the Saint-Cloud park, the Seine river and the lush nature just close to the site, the amenities pavilion has been designed to allow these elements to penetrate the building, as well as to create spaces that would allow one to enjoy the gardens and terraces, created as an extension of the building. The flowing shapes of the project recall the movements of nature. To underline this idea, the roof of the wing has been designed as a coloured envelope wrapping the building. The coloured stainless steel tiles were chosen for their particular iridescent character. In front view, the tiles are green, but their colour changes as the angle and light move. This gives the building a dynamic and always changing character, echoing the variations in the sky and sunlight.
The insides
The interior design and furniture have been thought out as a continuation of the outside lines of the building. While the central concrete core holds the curved staircase that links the various levels of the building, each level opens out on spaces filled with light: simple yet warm spaces, spaces that open out on terraces and gardens, as well as spaces that invite one to discover the next room. The circulation is therefore fluid, and the connection between each space is harmonious. Employees can thus enjoy each space, and will always be invited to discover the next one.
The transformation of the lobby: a micro architecture at the heart of the ‘Bocage’ building
On the outside, the ‘Bocage’ building still looks like an industrial fortress from the 1930s. Yet inside, gently perched in the space of the old atrium, Agence Jouin Manku has designed a ‘soft’ space, filled with light, which is one of their trademarks.
Visitors enter the building and are welcomed into a vast space, similar to a hotel lobby. at the entrance lies a large oval desk, which leads visitors to what used to be an indoor atrium. In the newly created courtyard, one discovers a surprising micro-architecture: a glass canopy, held up by a series of intertwined wood beams, an ethereal floating lattice, which at one point swoops down and gently balances above the floor.
This structural frame was a complex element that required the expertise of TESS, an engineering firm with whom Agence Jouin Manku regularly works.
This lobby is the new heart of the ‘Bocage’ building. It is a central meeting point between different spaces. It also invites visitors or employees to have a break. Both simple in its design and complex in its realisation, the glass pavilion foretells the bold amenities wing designed by the agence Jouin Manku.
The vertical circulation spaces
The other major architectural work is the transformation of the office spaces, especially through the vertical circulation spaces and service points, which now stand on the inside corners of the courtyard.
This has created new circulation spaces around the lobby. In the upper floors, natural light now floods largely into the workspaces. Corridors and stairs are highlighted by a strong yellow colour. This creates a contrast with the rest of the building and encourages one to use the stairs as well as the elevators.
Conclusion
IN/OUT is an ambitious architectural project by DTaCC architecture and agence Jouin Manku; together, they created two unique buildings for SFL. The campus offers a new approach to workspace based on the ideas of sharing, wellbeing and collective activities. The renovation and construction have greatly improved the campus’ amenities, for the benefit of the future users. This project also transforms a typical scenery of the Seine river.
Après sa série New York in the Black, le photographe français Christophe Jacrot revient cette fois-ci avec Paris in the Rain, réunissant de superbes clichés de la Ville Lumière. Jouant sur les reflets de l’eau et de la pluie, ces images d’une grande qualité sont à découvrir dans la suite de l’article.
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