This angular structure looping around a central courtyard is an office building in Saint-Etienne by French studio Manuelle Gautrand Architecture.
The façade of the building is made up of opaque and glass rectangular panels, contrasting with the yellow underbelly where parts of the volume have been cut away.
Three entry points have been created where the building rises and falls, providing a yellow canopy over the pavement.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
A central courtyard allows easy circulation in and around the building.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
The building houses the offices for several government bodies, as well as a restaurant, tourism bureau and leisure facilities.
Photographs are by Vincent Fillon unless otherwise stated.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
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The following information is from the architects:
“LA CITE DES AFFAIRES” IN SAINT-ETIENNE - Grüner district – Zac Châteaucreux, Saint-Etienne
This office building (1.500 workstations) groups various public services, including the head office of ‘Saint-Etienne Metropole’, a business canteen and 400 parking places.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
The site is a vital liaison point between the centre of Saint-Etienne and the new Chateaucreux neighbourhood, to which it forms a major entranceway.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
It also constitutes a pole grouping several government bodies that will set up there : Regional Development Authority, Tax Services, Epora, Saint-Etienne Métropole, and so on.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
Service and leisure facilities will also be part of the mix: shared corporate restaurant, café, tourism bureau for the metropiltan area.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
The idea is to develop a long built ‘continuum’ on the site to interact with adjacent streets.
A linear construction that rears up and unfolds but also hugs the ground line to form a low accessible building – one that opens spacious courts and lifts bold overhangs.
Each of its large bays serves an access route: the main portal opens to the concourse on avenue Grüner, which draws pedestrians into the project in a sliding movement.
A high ceiling shelters and magnifies this entranceway, which is the finest and largest of three.
The other two large ‘ports’ open the project to the streets that irrigate the lot, interconnecting pedestrian itineraries in the area.
Our desire for continuity in construction does not simply reflect the idea of building a legible and unitary urban landmark, it also provides the flexibility that the project needs.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
In fact, the principle behind this continuum is to imagine a set of ‘communicating parts’ that enable the user-administrations to merge into a whole, one and all, and to evolve according to their needs in harmony with those of other tenants.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
The absence of breaks in surfaces will ensure that things remain open-ended, with the possibility of extending or reducing space.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
The project is like a large ‘Aztec serpent’ rising on the lot.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
Its body has three identical outer faces, and an underside that is different: a skin of silvery transparent scales and a bright yellow ‘throat’, shiny and opaque.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
This dual treatment of surfaces obeys a simple logic shared throughout, which aims at expressing clarity in folds.
Above photograph is by Philippe Ruault
Depending on these movements, the yellow underside is either a floating canopy or an interior vertical wall, accompanying internal pedestrian movements with its rich luminous presence.
The nearness of so much gorgeous yellow brightens up pavements and glazed elevations, casting golden washes over them like sunlight…
This is a project that is about bringing together yellow and grey, silver and gold.
ARCHITECT
Manuelle Gautrand Architecture: Manuelle Gautrand – representative architect, Thomas Daragon – works project manager, Yves Tougard – studies project manager
CLIENT
Altarea-Cogedim
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Structure: Khephren
Façade: Arcora
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Maîtrise d’œuvre d’exécution : Debray Ingénierie
Roofing / Finishings: Pitance-Lamy
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Metallic framework : Baudin-Châteauneuf
Façade : Allouis
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Surface : 25.000sqm
Length : 108 m, width : 43 m, max height. : 34 m
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Cantilever 25 m X 20 m without any grounding support
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Dates : 2005: design constest, 2006-2007 : studies, 2008-2010 : works, delivery : september 2010
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See also:
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| Monolith by Erick van Egeraat |
Le Monolith by MVRDV |
More projects by Manuelle Gautrand Architecture |
so Dutch
This is fantastic. I don't understand why we don't have anything like this in the USA.
Those random windows already look so outdated.
Stark, even with all the gaudy yellow. Do the designers hate people? They sure seem to be punishing them!
The way the yellow zones complement the white and blue tinted glass facades is really beautiful. I love the simple form and the experimentation of the materiality and skin.
The Vibrancy is exciting / surprising / fun
The Gesture is simple, yet effective
The disconnected towers in a single building could be impractical if there is ever a need to go from one to the other, a la 'Simmons Hall' @ MIT
the concept is not new but i like what they have done ,but i hate the small windows it feels person from the in side and freedom from the other.
The massing diagram claims another victim.
At some point, architects will learn that the end-game in architecture is not a seductive postcard. The point of architecture is to design habitable space with an atmosphere that anchors the person's awareness to their use of the space.
This has nothing to do with anything around it. It's just an excuse to fill their monograph with sexy images. Is there a single person here that sees that and has the desire to visit?
makes me think of a neutelings-riedijk project
( http://www.neutelings-riedijk.com/content/images/… )
and from the photos the courtyard seems a bit out of human scale to me.
nice building nevertheless
I like this project. It seems to answer the question:" how can a square boxy building became funny and unpredictable?"
A great work.
It's a bit like the CCTV but horizontal / (CCTV in China by OMA)
The scale is impressive, but this type of architecture is especially
megalomaniac and wants to be photogenic. Ideal for magazines.
Why are there so few pictures from inside the building?
Why do the architects forget urban context and human scale ? Why do they try to
to design objects ?
It's cool. It's fresh. It's done by talented architects. It's DIFFERENT. What else do you need?
Taiwanese pavilon @ Shanghai world expo
This building seems to intentionally defy the human scale. Why would they do that? Not sure.. The culprit is certainly the strange random windows. Well, and the ridiculous and (seemingly) needless overhang. OMA did this in Beijing, we do not need to see it any more.. It just seems to be really wasteful and thoughtless.
Other than those issues the building seems to be really interesting and thoughtful. They seem to have just added the windows and overhang needlessly. Trim the fat and it will be better!
I don't wanna be there.
i`m sure it looked very nice as a foam modell
nice model
but I think they could have improved this design,.
Is it bad that the model looks better?
She tends to make her model better than real building.
its not the architect that demanded to put a huge amount of square metres it to tight plot of lond, but the lamd owner. The architects just proposed the best solution for those "square metres"which they could find.
Yes – from the model to the real, something seems to have been lost in the translation.