Thesis title:
La Chaine, Paris Saclay Cultural Center
Date of discussion:
October 2023
Students:
Yasmine Sadek, Marwa Alaaeldeen Ibrahim Elredeny
Professors of the Studio:
Francesca Battisti (Architectural Design)
Grigor Angjeliu (Structural and Seismic Design)
Massimiliano Nastri (Sustainable Technology)
Francesco Romano (Services Design for Sustainable Buildings)
Giovanni Dotelli (Sustainable Materials for Architecture)
Abstract:
A research-intensive business cluster is emerging in the south of Paris, offering a wide range of cultural services and functions to support the development of a knowledge community. The master plan of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris ensures the coherence of all its projects and creates an exceptional campus.
By relocating the football field, an opening will be generated at the east entrance of the site, allowing the urban spaces and the forest to flow together, creating a continuous landscape.
To balance the existing built mass, the new development is designed as separate but connected buildings, acting as a social hub with an open ‘ground floor’ and introducing a ‘courtyard’ urban fabric. The result is a vibrant and cohesive environment that encourages collaboration, creativity and a sense of community.
Located at the heart of this dynamic multi-disciplinary innovation cluster, the cultural center will play a part in extending the history set in motion by the university’s founders by creating an educational network on an urban scale. The new centre will accommodate up to 3,000 people per day, greeted and directed into a grand atrium extending from the Prairie. The thesis project is the result of an integrated design process that includes structural and seismic design, sustainable technology, services design and the use of sustainable materials to create a functional building that seamlessly fits into an innovative district.