Architect：Renzo Piano Building Workshop;Groupe 6

Location：4 Av. des Sciences, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; | ;View Map

Project Year：2021

Category：Universities

Stories By：Renzo Piano Building Workshop;LAMM

In January 2014, the ENS Cachan announced that it has selected RPBW from five other shortlisted firms to develop a 63,000 square meter building as part of its campus project at Paris Saclay. The building project is composed of 4 architectural units which border a park measuring over a hectare.

This “extraordinary” garden acts as the vibrant centre of the different surrounding buildings, which overlook the richness of the School and maintain the readability of space. The entirely transparent south facade gives a view into the daily life of the school, housing areas such as the cafeteria, a restaurant, a reception and conference centre and research laboratories. The northern building, which resembles bright indoor street, will be used for teaching and researching fundamental sciences for engineers, while the human and social sciences cluster is situated in the “satellite,” an area embodying a more rounded form.

The principles employed in the development of the buildings’ framework centre on the idea that structural appearance is secondary to functionality. Thus, the structures are low-key and fitted with the highly technical functions required by the program, as well as the network of buildings and associated pathways between each unit.

The structure is made from large gantries of 16.20m with a 13.50m girth, without any supporting posts, so the resulting spaces allow classrooms, offices and laboratories to be easily installed. The buildings are structurally identical and thus require a strict collaboration between architecture, structure and technology. This bioclimatic architecture is fully integrated with the requirements for durable development: thermal durability, natural ventilation, outdoor solar panels, and the storage of rainwater have all been addressed.

There will also be the opportunity to combine a number of amenities with the Université Paris-Saclay, such as technology and science facilities, the learning centre, teaching areas, sports facilities, hospitality services and student accommodation.

Raised coloured signals ensure clear visibility across the district, drawing attention to the school whose mission is to make scientific advancements by challenging its students with important questions of technology, industry and society.

The ENS Cachan will cover a net surface area of 63 000 m2, and will welcome 3000 students for the beginning of the 2018 academic year.

In 2018, the Ecole normale supérieure de Cachan will join the great centre of higher education and research, on the Paris-Saclay campus alongside its academic and scientific partners.

LAMM’s ability to understand and meet specific project requirements with extreme flexibility is once again revealed in the supply and installation of about 2,000 custom study benches for the new campus of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris-Saclay, designed by RPBW.

The École Normale Supérieure de Paris-Saclay (ENS) is a high-level training and research centre, and the recent completion of its new headquarters, located a few kilometres south of Paris, has the ultimate goal of creating a place capable of establishing inclusive links with the city.

Conceived as a large university campus based on the Anglo-Saxon model – multidisciplinary and totally eco-sustainable – the project designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop creates an environment to stimulate research and foster the relationship between disciplines.

In addition to the intensive use of BIM technology that earned the BIM d’Or 2015 (a prestigious French award for the most distinguished project for the innovative use of BIM systems), the project stands out for the high attention paid to sustainability: the building integrates a real “bioclimatic design strategy” that includes heat generators, natural ventilation, passive cooling, rainwater recovery and management and a bioclimatic garden.

The building is in fact composed of four architectural units organised around a large central park of more than one hectare which thus serves as a meeting point but also plays a “micro-climate” role as it is protected from the wind thanks to the surrounding buildings.

As part of this prestigious project, the Research & Development Department at LAMM, starting from the reworking of a mass-produced product and in close collaboration with the designers from Renzo Piano Building Workshop, was called upon to develop an integrated and continuous system of tables and chairs able to fully meet the specific aesthetic requirements of the project while ensuring the highest quality in terms of performance, safety and durability that educational environments require.

The completion of their recent undertaking thus confirms LAMM’s ability to meet the objectives of flexibility and customisation expressed by the uniqueness of each intervention both through the modification and adaptation of its seating systems and study benches and through the development of original and innovative solutions.

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