The winning proposal for the extension project for the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Troyes (Troyes Management School) by SCAU Architectes provides a new image, thanks to a highly pertinent concept that marries convivial spaces, clear circulation, modern energy and, above all, a great simplicity of architectural style. The extension, necessitated by its exceptional growth, is a real opportunity to confirm the establishment’s image and assert its identity at a national and international level, among the diverse colleges in this field. In this respect, the building’s architectural expression has today become the flagship of the Troyes ESC’s dynamism and energy. More images and architects’ dsescription after the break.
The Brief
In doubling the existing surface of the building, the extension inaugurates an ambitious programme, thanks to which the growing number of students can be accommodated in a building appropriate to their needs. The teaching facilities comprise the most important part of the programme in terms of surface area: four 150-place lecture theatres, five 80-place tiered rooms, classrooms and premises for professional training, plus the extension of the existing restaurant. A research department and offices for the administration complete the program. The construction of a multi-media library, as well as the renovation of the entire ground floor and first floor of the existing building are currently envisaged for future phases.
Architectural Standpoint
Starting from the principle that the circulation routes play a major role in the life and functioning of a school, the extension is articulated around a large interior street, the pulsing heart of the new building which stimulates the entire school and confirms its implantation in the urban setting. Scaled to accommodate the equivalent of four 150-seat lecture theatres that empty at the same time, its triple-height volume makes it a true place for encounters and conviviality. From the interior street, transversal liaison galleries provide links to the existing building, creating patios at the junctions where students can meet. The creation of a large parvis in front of the main facade as well as the multiple entrances open the school and its site up to the urban environment.
Beacon of an Identity
Like a folded origami, a double skin in pierced metal envelopes the building from the facades to the roof, broken by a central glazed roof that covers the interior street, bringing natural light into the living and working spaces. This metal skin functions like a climatic filter, in which the density of the perforations changes according to the orientation of the sun. In unifying the different elements of the brief within the same envelope, with volumes as atypical as the lecture theatres, the building becomes the beacon of the school’s identity. An identity theatricalized on the parvis by the unfurling of the metal envelopment, a symbolic unfurling of the remarkable growth experienced by Troyes’ business school.
Architects: SCAU Architectes Location: Troyes, France SCAU Project Team: Maxime Barbier, Bernard Cabannes, Luc Delamain, François Gillard, Michel Macary, Aymeric Zublena Associate Architects: SCP Peiffer Freycenon Architectes Client: Grand Troyes Program: Business School Net Surface Area: 7500 m² Cost: 20,8 M°€ (before tax) Scope of Work: Complete assignment Status: Competition winner 2012, Studies in progress, Delivery due 2014
