Henning Larsen has released details of its winning design for the NØRR office and cultural center in Saint-Denis, near the French capital of Paris. The 55,000-square-meter scheme draws inspiration from rural French villages, creating an intimate setting for urban and professional life derived from Scandinavian-styled human scales.
The scheme’s design was driven by an ethos of a professional world that would not forfeit the fundamentals of human wellness, with 50,000 square meters of working space engaging in direct dialogue with lush terraces, natural daylight, and a tight sense of community.
The design concept behind NØRR translates the rural village typology into a human-orientated workplace, with even the divided “Ø” in the title symbolizing where dualities converge: nature and urban, private and public, professional and playful. On the ground level, 5,000 square meters of outdoor cafes, cultural spaces, and green gardens invite the public into NØRR’s daily life, with pedestrian corridors and small-scale gathering points mirroring the intimate setting of village streets.
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The village typology continues on upper office floors, with offset building volumes avoiding long, impersonal hallways, instead channeling occupants through smaller corridors marked by common social hubs.
Our starting point was creating a design that could fulfill 55,000 m2 of space while giving off a smaller sense of scale. We want to create a village, not a monolith. By gathering cultural venues and offices under the same roof, NØRR reimagines work life with a Scandinavian emphasis on personal interaction and a close connection with nature.
- Søren Øllgaard, Partner and Design Director at Henning Larsen
The Henning Larsen scheme sits along a corridor of significant new development, with projects by Snøhetta, Kengo Kuma and Marc Mimram are all planned to rise within one kilometer of NØRR, as well as the new aquatics center for the Paris 2024 Olympics. NØRR therefore stands at the crossroads of local urban life, drawing professional and public realms together at a new hub of Saint-Denis culture and activity.
NØRR is co-developed with AXA IM – Real Assets, Bouygues Immobilier, and Plaine Commune Développement, a Saint-Denis-based public-private development agency.
News via: Henning Larsen
