Campus AgroParis Tech et INRA sur le Plateau de Saclay

The project engages in dialog with the empty spaces and the surrounding urban amenities, and, taking over the district’s central artery, it opens up generously to the large agricultural plains, enhancing the site’s landscape qualities. The three main building structures surround a vast central park, aligning themselves with the plot boundaries in accordance with the overall development plan and asserting the district’s cohesive design. The research building faces the plains, while the teaching and administrative buildings stand at the interface with the city. The reception wing showcases the main access entrance, a bridge-shaped building overlooking the main avenue. The building complex displays a façade projecting intimacy, produced by a single-cladding curtain-type wall outfitted with full-height slats in various dispersal patterns that serve both as sun-breakers and as architectural symbols. The composition of these slats is variable: on the garden side, they are made of wood, while the three external façades are coated with mirror polishing, terracotta and aluminum, respectively.