Sou Fujimoto + Manal Rachdi OXO + Nicolas Laisné win Ecole Polytechnique Learning Centre

A consortium led by Sou Fujimoto Architects + Manal Rachdi OXO Architectes + Nicolas Laisné Associates had the winning design for the upcoming Ecole Polytechnique Learning Centre for the Paris-Saclay University. The team collaborated with Egis Bâtiment, Franck Boutté consultants and Jean-Paul Lamoureux acoustics.

The winning team was one of four finalists that included Atelier 2/3/4, Babin + Renaud, and Chartier Dalix Architectes in the restricted competition.

Donned in a Sou Fujimoto-signature white, the team's open and porous design will integrate six of the Paris-Saclay University's education and research institutions into one building.

Project description:

"The operation aims to design a single building where study programs will be shared between six education and research institutions as the Ecole Polytechnique, Institut Mines-Telecom, AgroParisTech, ENSTA ParisTech, ENSAE ParisTech and Institut d'Optique (IOGS).

"The front glazed façade is covered with a generous canopy while the vegetation is invading the interior space, thus blurring the limits between inside and outside. 
As a symbol of the union of the six schools, all of them belonging to the Paris-Saclay University, the learning center becomes a point of convergence, thought of as an extension of the qualities of the adjacent landscaping project.
"

"The building, with an area of ​​approximately 10 000 m² and a budget of €32.5M, will host 150 staff and welcome 2,000 students within its premises of various typologies. In addition to several lecture halls and numerous classrooms; spaces dedicated to innovative pedagogy will be created. 'Distance-learning rooms', video-conferencing and collaborative working spaces such as 'boxes-work' or 'project rooms' will optimize the environment for an educational system focused on interactivity and digital tools. The building will also provide a cafeteria and relaxation areas favoring serendipity, itself encouraged by the close proximity of the research laboratories of the Ecole Polytechnique."

"The architectural concept: flexibility, mingling and openness: Opening up to the linear park in front, the Learning Center is invaded by nature. Inside, a wide atrium is inhabited by the light vegetation and a series of walkways and staircases creating numerous informal spaces for teachers, students and visitors allowing new places to meet or work. These platforms, the 'spontaneous amphitheaters' and the classrooms are united under one roof providing promiscuity and privacy in an intimate relationship with nature."

"People won’t pass each other in corridors anymore, but meet in vivid places, in a unique space bathed in soft light, with surprising and changing views. The large transparent facade of the Learning Center opens to the West on the "Green", a vast public space covered by lawns and partly wooded. The building is thus seen as an open space revealing the activities taking place in its heart and stands as an architectural and academic emblem of the future neighborhood.
"

Project details

TYPE : Restricted competition
ARCHITECTS TEAM : SOU FUJIMOTO ARCHITECTS + MANAL RACHDI  OXO ARCHITECTS+ NICOLAS LAISNE ASSOCIES
SURFACE : 10 000 m²
BUDGET :  € 32.5M
LOCATION : Paris-Saclay University, France
STATUS : First prize.

TEAM PROJECT :

SOU FUJIMOTO ARCHITECTS (Tokyo, Japan) Partner in charge: Sou Fujimoto; Project manager: Marie de France
MANAL RACHDI OXO ARCHITECTS (Paris, France) Partenaires-en-Charge: Manal Rachdi; Project manager: Traian Bompa, Helena Frigola
NICOLAS LAISNE ASSOCIES (Paris, France) Partner in charge: Nicolas Laisné, Dimitri Roussel; Project manager: Margaux Desombre 

CONSULTANT : EGIS BATIMENTS (Paris, France) Partner in charge: Patrice Lynch Engineers: Alain Collet, Mario Figueiredo, Henri Souchon BET CONCEPTION + ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER: FRANK BOUTTÉ CONSULTANTS (Paris, France) Project manager: Olivier Puertas
ACOUSTICIAN : LAMOUREUX ACOUSTICS (Paris, France)  Thomas Jourdan
PERSPECTIVE : RSI-studio, Manal Rachdi Oxo architectes. Nicolas Laisné associés.