Jean-Paul Viguier has produced this design for the SFR Headquarters in Saint-Denis, France, a 130,000 sq. meter facility that will house four sectors of offices along a single spine. The building is scheduled for completion in 2013.
More on this project after the break.
The design of the SFR Headquarters is conceived as a metaphor for perpetual growth and rebirth. It exemplifies the corporate culture of today, its adaptation to external elements and flexibility in bifurcating into divisions of specialization. The design is an embodiment of this idea in a campus, one that emerges from a single solid trunk and branches into offshoots that open on to stepped terrace gardens.
The four bodies of offices are attached to the common spine epitomizing diversity united into on ensemble. The horizontal axis of the site is delineated by the motorway to the North and the branching out gardens. The main focus for Jean-Paul Viguier has been towards implementing a strategy of clear connections between the environment and the employees with their working space, site-integration within the industrial context, and that of a luminous and airy building linked to the outside through stepped terraces.
Light is a key asset in designing both comfortable working conditions and optimal sustainable efficiciency. Through alternating glass and metal, various openings and reflections enhance the rythmed space density. The facades act like a real garnment changing according to their exposure. Protective barriers to the North act against acoustic pressure from arterial roads and cold climatic conditions. On the West and East sides, the façade is designed with external shades, glass and aluminium, with opening surfaces. On the South side, facing the gardens, large horizontal cantilevers act as protection from the sun at it’s height with direct access to the exterior. Stairways have been placed along the garden facades to allow a permanent visual contact with the landscape. Connecting and integrating the different buildings to the complex, the shared service zones are grouped on the ground floor level to create a fluid and active relationship to the communal areas comprising various restaurants, health club, sqash courts and social zones.
Architect : Jean-Paul Viguier et Associés, Architecture et Urbanisme Location: Saint-Denis, France Client : SFR Developer : Vinci Immobilier Promotion Consulting Engineers : SETEC Bâtiment Mission : Design and Construction Area : 130 000 m² Completion Phase 1 : end 2013
