Boulogne Billancourt, Architect, French Property, Parisian Development, Location, Owner
Boulogne Billancourt Paris Office Building
Trapeze masterplan in France design by Foster + Partners Architects
post updated 14 September 2021 ; 5 Dec 2008
Design: Foster + Partners, Architects
Boulogne Billancourt
New office development opens in Paris
The first building within the Trapeze masterplan at Boulogne Billancourt, in the south-east of Paris – a seven-storey office development, designed by Foster + Partners – is now complete. The offices occupy a prime position within the mixed-use development and a transparent atrium maintains an important visual link between the river Seine on one side and a new park on the other.
Built on the site of the former Renault headquarters, the building has an expressed white concrete structure, with a steel and glass façade. It is divided between two volumes, connected by a glazed, full-height atrium containing a café and two restaurants for staff. This dynamic space incorporates panoramic lifts and suspended walkways, which appear to float at double-height intervals to allow uninterrupted views out to the river or the park. Above the entrance, giant translucent brise-soleils filter daylight down into the atrium, while a wave-formed geometric façade on the east and west elevations comprise curved vertical panels of alternate translucent and fritted glass.
Albert Kahn Garden, Boulogne Billancourt Paris:
A rooftop pavilion to the east and the expansive south-facing balconies are accessible from the office floors and take advantage of the riverside location. The 22,000 square metres of interior floor space provides a mixture of cellular and open plan configurations. The internal arrangement is flexible – the floor plates can be split either vertically or horizontally to accommodate multiple tenants. A fringe of shops enlivens the ground level and the boulevard between the river and the building has been landscaped to provide a waterside promenade.
Designed with a progressive environmental strategy, the building has achieved a French HQE ‘Excellent’ rating. The large volume of the atrium and the double-height spaces on the seventh and eighth floors promote natural air flow and the end walls of the atrium can also be opened with an automated system of pivoted glass panels to allow natural ventilation in mid-season.
Grant Brooker, senior partner at Foster + Partners, said: “The new office development at Boulogne Billancourt continues our longstanding investigations into the nature of the workplace. We aimed to create a building with a focused and stimulating internal environment, with strong connections to the river and the park.”
Foster + Partners won the competition to design an office development for Boulogne Billancourt in 2005.
The office elements of Boulogne Billancourt are under development by Hines, owned by Gecina and occupied by pharmaceutical firm, Ipsen. The overall masterplan is designed by Jacques Ferrier and Dominique Chavannes and comprises offices, apartments and a tower.
Foster + Partners collaborated with Paris-based architects Atelier 234, who are also designing the adjacent residential block.
Trapeze masterplan Paris image / information from Foster + Partners
Location: Boulogne Billancourt, Paris, France, western Europe
New Paris Architecture
Contemporary Paris Architecture
Paris Architecture Design – chronological list
Paris Architecture Walking Tours by e-architect
Also by Foster + Partners in Paris : Hermitage Plaza
Paris Architecture Walking Tours
New Paris Architecture designs
Contemporary Architecture in Paris – architectural selection below:
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Design: Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes together with Celnikier & Grabli Architectes
photo © David Boureau
Campus CEA Paris-Saclay Neuroscience Institute
Edison Lite, 71 avenue Edison, 75013 Paris
Design: Manuelle Gautrand Architecture
photo © Luc Boegly
Edison Lite Homes Paris
C42 – Citroën display building
Manuelle Gautrand
C42 Citroen Building
Tour Signal – Architecture Competition
Jean Nouvel
Tour Signal
Comments / photos for the Boulogne Billancourt Architecture – Former Renault headquarters site redevelopment design by Foster + Partners Architects page welcome