Metropole Rouen Normandie Headquarters
The headquarters of Métropole Rouen Normandie is a unique, memorable and fitting image on the banks of the Seine in Rouen. What makes it so unique is how the new building fits in with the surrounding landscape of Rouen: its silhouette echoes the renovated industrial buildings on the right bank. The building is covered with fish-like ‘scales’ made of subtly coloured glass, reflecting the changing light of the Normandy sky and the water. The façade is a contemporary interpretation of the chromatic variations in Claude Monet’s impressionist paintings of Rouen Cathedral.
The headquarters of Métropole Rouen Normandie is a unique, memorable and fitting image on the banks of the Seine in Rouen. What makes it so unique is how the new building fits in with the surrounding landscape of Rouen. The building’s dynamic profile contrasts with the omnipresence of horizontal designs found along the major port, while its silhouette echoes the renovated industrial buildings on the right bank. The oblique shapes are reminiscent of the silhouettes of cranes and other objects in the port and the bows of the passing ships...
The building showcases and utilises the site’s strong presence to enhance urban life on the left bank. As an extension of the future park, the building is the figurehead of the future eco-district. It is a contemporary metropolitan icon, but already forms part of the surroundings, much like the cathedral and the Gustave Flaubert bridge. It blends in with the unique visual landscape of the quays and the history of the port.
Its multi-faceted, transparent architecture plays with the changing light of the Normandy sky, reflections from the water, and the colours of the climate. The building is covered with fish-like ‘scales’ made of subtly coloured glass. Reflecting and refracting the light of the sun, the glass scales cover the building with hints of colour that are further enhanced by the reflections from the river below. The effect is inspired by impressionist painting, and in particular Claude Monet. The glass is covered with a layer of metal oxide creating a colourful iridescent reflection from the outside, but disappearing on the inside leaving the light in work areas unaffected.
These changing colours are a contemporary interpretation of the chromatic variations in Claude Monet’s many paintings of Rouen Cathedral. By tirelessly painting the same fragment of architecture at different times of the day, Monet demonstrated just how many different chromatic perceptions were possible. My project is like a counterpoint to Monet’s overture: the architecture changes colour by itself depending on the time of day and where you are standing. To achieve this, cutting-edge technology in the glass coating brings the energy system and the poetic device together as one. The desire to achieve exceptional environmental performance was the starting point for a sensorial architecture.
The double layered façade provides the building with passive thermal protection. On the roof, the glass scales make way for solar panels that provide a considerable contribution to the building’s energy self-sufficiency. Manufactured in Europe, the panels are modern in design and provide varied nuances of colour while ensuring high energy yield.
But in my opinion, the main quality of the double-envelope is that it creates an in-between space, an undetermined space between the inside and the outside that can therefore be used and interpreted at will and in many different ways. It blurs the limits between inside and out, creates transitions, thresholds, depth of field, gives the façade a thickness by superimposing thin layers.
Between is a space in its own right within the architectural project, sometimes actually constructed, other times only suggested. It combines with the natural ventilation systems, solar protection on the façades, greater visual comfort, and softened natural light.
Air is a component of the system. The air that surrounds us all, which in the 20th century has become a quantifiable, transformed, processed, and conditioned component, has also become threatened for the first time by all sorts of pollution. In large contemporary cities, air has become a major issue. The design of the environment has gradually taken control of the air, to the point where it has been entirely conditioned indoors. In contrast, Rouen is an open building, whose bay windows open automatically at night to cool the building in summer; the in-between space creates a thin layer of air that is also the building’s envelope and represents a new relationship with the environment. Rouen is an example of my work creating buildings that breath once again, and interact with the climate, the seasons, the passage of time.
The transparency and depth of the double façade enhance the variations of light and prevent the building from appearing overbearing. The building’s appearance transforms throughout the day. With the light shining through, it appears to float on the quay.
Under the impressionistic outer layer, the work spaces are arranged according to their use. The ground-floor reception area provides direct access to the floors above. The floor on the quay-level provides reception areas, meeting rooms, services and support activities. On the building’s roof, the large terrace extends the reception areas and offers a panoramic view over the city and river.
The offices are spread over the floors and enjoy excellent lighting. A gap that stretches from top to bottom separates the building in two and brings natural light to the heart of the building. It widens to form patio spaces on certain floors, creating terraces accessible to visitors.
Designed with the aims of efficiency and comfort, the building is both innovative and exemplary in nature. Navigating your way through the building is easy and intuitive: users are not restricted to the usual corridors - that force you to always take the same path - but they are offered with alternatives cutting across or skirting the patios. People circulate around the building according to various scenarios, experienced as walks that everyone is free to compose during their workday. Emphasis is placed both on the work spaces and community areas.
