A team comprising Danish architect BIG and engineer Buro Happold has won a competition to design a new research centre for Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris.
The team also contains Paris-based architects OFF, consultants Michel Forgue and environmental engineer Franck Boutte.
The research centre, Paris PARC, will be located between Jean Nouvel’s Institut du Monde Arabe and the open green park of the Jussieu Campus.
BIG proposes a building geometry that adapts to the specific conditions of all adjoining sides, optimised for daylight, views and accessibility.
The three-dimensional envelope retracts from the neighboring facades, opens up towards the square of Institut du Monde Arabe and the park, and folds into a publicly accessible rooftop landscape.
Andreas Klok Pedersen, partner in charge, BIG, commented:“We propose a building that creates the optimum conditions for encounters and exchange among the academics and visitors of Paris PARC.
“Like a scientific incubator the new building will provide the physical environment for nurturing growth of cultures and sharing of ideas – through the internal mix of laboratories, research facilities and informal meeting spaces, and through a reunification with the public life of the city.”
A central canyon provides daylight and a visual connection between laboratories and offices. In the atrium a cascade of informal meeting spaces lead to the public rooftop terrace and faculty club.
A public stairway to the rooftop offers glimpses into the activities of the laboratories which are divided by transparent walls throughout the building to ensure visual connections between the working spaces. The upper levels have panoramic views towards the Notre Dame and the skyline of Paris.