Thesis title:
INSTITUT POLYTECHNIQUE DE PARIS – CAMPUS SACLAY.
Overcoming the boundaries of conventional scientific research environment.
Date of discussion:
07 July 2022
Students:
Gabdulina Ayagoz, Ertan Ilhan, Vanessa Fung Hing Wai
Supervisor
Francesca Battisti
Professors of the Studio
Francesca Battisti (Architectural Design)
Grigor Angjeliu (Structural and Seismic Design)
Massimiliano Nastri (Sustainable Technology)
Giovanni Dotelli (Sustainable Materials for Architecture)
Francesco Romano (Service Design for Sustainable Buildings)
Abstract:
Located in Paris Saclay, the new Institute Polytechnic campus is designed to prioritize accessibility and linkage. Each building of the new campus offers a different type of sports activity and the possibility to reach them all by the footbridge, passing through the multiple buildings, including the new Centre for Research Excellence in Biomedical Engineering. Following the path of “significant places”, from the Great Hall of IP to the prairie and the football stadium, it passes over the new south to north axis systems created to enhance the bond between nature and campus. Neighboring the start-up hub, museum, recreational center and open courts, the Research Centre becomes a centerpiece of the new masterplan, which binds the surrounding program. It is envisioned to be a flexible research hub, an accelerator of innovation based on interaction and collaboration, overcoming the boundaries of conventional scientific research functions. To maintain the flow of users between different floors, and maximize the flexibility, the structural system was split into two parts. The combination of steel frame, RC shear walls and trusses with suspension elements suggested removing the columns on the first floor.
A continuous strip of first-floor terraces surrounding the whole building highlights the programmatic novelty by giving the clear functional division at the façade: the suspended upper floors are for private uses as lab spaces, while lower floors are for the public uses as commercial and interactive spaces. Thus, the public character of the building serves to assemble a new identity for the institution.