A beautiful illustration of win/win projects. This new 3,000 m² building created by the architects of the Atelier du pont agency in the heart of Parc de la Villette has the primary purpose of creating a comfortable and efficient working environment for the site’s operating teams. But, in the process, the general public will also benefit by ultimately recovering an additional 5,000 m² of parkland. How is this little miracle possible?
It is quite simply the result of a rationalization of a space closed to the public where several work spaces were scattered (in fact barracks inherited from the time when the architect Bernard Tschumi installed the park and its famous red follies). These diffuse installations were therefore removed and a plot exchange was also carried out with the city of Paris to recover the Halle du Rouvray, a former workshop installed on the edge of the Villette basin. But the condition of this exchange was the opening of this entire area to visitors.
It is on these bases that this project was born, which also had to take care of the form. “I am very happy to strengthen the architectural tradition of this park, underlines Sophie-Justine Lieber, general director of the Public Establishment of the park and the Grande Halle de La Villette. We are still a place welcoming the creations of Bernard Tschumi, Christian de Portzamparc and Jean Nouvel.” On the roadmap side, it was important that this new place allowed the teams to see each other and work together, who were rather scattered while maintaining this impression of finding themselves in the middle of nature, a habit inherited from the barracks period. .
On-site manufacturing
After visiting this building called “Pavillon Jardins”, the mission seems accomplished. “We have chosen to place ourselves on the framework that Tschumi used for the distribution of his madness, explains Philippe Croisier, co-founder of Atelier du Pont. On this site rich in landscape and even wildlife, we wanted to have as little impact as possible with rapid construction and without basement.” And to respect the wishes of the “master” of the place Bernard Tschumi, the architects stuck to a height limit of 8 meters. In view of the constraints and to ensure a large span for the building, the structure of the building was made of concrete, topped by a wooden structure. The latter is very simple, relying on standard commercial format beams assembled together. This lightweight structure frees up interior post spaces, offering modularity and scalability.
The layout of the premises is characterized by both its great simplicity and its tailor-made aspect. Part of the furniture was reused and other elements were designed by the architects and made in the La Villette workshops (in the basement of the Grande Halle) with steel tubes and wooden panels, often recovered from exhibitions. Proof of this inventiveness: the bubbles found in many open spaces are mobile here. With their wheels, they move easily and plug into floor sockets to benefit from lighting. The apparently very simple roof hides an innovation with the direct integration of photovoltaic cells into the glass roof, which required specific technical authorizations. The formula allows you to create these plays of light and shadow on the ground, while blocking out 70% of the light inside, avoiding a greenhouse effect.
9 million
And after leaving the large collaborative space on the ground floor with its central atrium, its cafeteria and its stepped staircase, we reach the first floor where the work spaces are punctuated by custom-made micro-architectures. With always the same basic materials we find various types of meeting bubbles, reprography rooms, herbal tea rooms, etc. In total, the place has no less than 155 workstations. On the heating side, a heated floor was selected for the ground floor atrium while radiant heating and acoustic panels were installed in the other spaces. Global budget? Around 9 million euros, or 3000 €/m².