Offices - Quai Ouest
Built in the early ’90s, the building no longer met international tertiary-building standards.
The client therefore wanted to extensively restructure its overall function to overcome its obsolescence, adapt it to new environmental norms and give it a new architectural identity. Following on a structural diagnosis and probing the way in which the walls had been made, a new functional, spatial attitude and another wall system based on a double, ventilated-glass skin with solar protection were decided on.
The river’s proximity encouraged the project to opt for a protean sparkle effect. To achieve it the windows were overlaid with 9-square meter glass panels, folded diagonally, creating two triangles separated by a sharp crest. So the upper triangle reflects sky while the lower one the ceaseless movement of the river and city.
This prismatic overcoat with lively, sparkling glints plays on perception, scale, accumulation and translucency. It creates a strong identity through the quality of the materials and way they are used, an identity that gives a new lease on life to the building.
