Îlot 11A Offices

Programme

Office building.

The project incorporates an office building and an underground car park. The planners recommend the use of clay brick as a reference to the industrial heritage of the site, while the developer wishes to build in wood. The future user is not yet known. The office units face each other across a garden, and are connected by a covered gallery. The layout brings animation to the public space thanks to the transparency of the ground floor and the view of the garden from the Allée du Donjon, but it is the predicted uses and the search for spatial qualities that give the project its impetus. This brings us to the structural choices: a post and beam structure, concrete on the ground floor and timber on the up- per floors, perpendicular to the facade. This structure, combined with the 3.2 meter ceiling height, allows for full-height windows which provide plenty of natural light. The structure has a special feature: the beams are supported on each façade and on one of the columns, and are interrupted to allow the inclusion of a central technical plenum. Stairwells located to the side avoid impact on the space. These arrangements provide the flexibility desired. The structural concept takes concrete form through the architectural expression, which maintains a strong relationship with the play of forces in the building. The tight rhythm and the deep set-back of the windows on the south-west façade influence the thermal behavior of the building by avoiding overheating in summer. The design is the result of holistic thinking with multifunctional structural and constructive elements, avoiding an assembly of complementary systems. This architecture is exemplary in terms of sustainability. Not only does it fit within the cultural context of the place while making use of local or low carbon materials, but, above all, it provides the flexibility needed for as yet undefined uses through creative engineering.

Bernard Wittevrongel