EDF Saclay Campus

Information

location_on Location: Saclay, France

date_range Date: 2017

architecture Architect: ECDM

emoji_objects Solutions & technologies: Envelope & Spray

Project description EDF Saclay (pdf, 0.88 MB)

The new EDF Campus was inaugurated in 2017 in the Plateau de Saclay business cluster, near the well-known campuses of École Polytechnique and HEC. Built by the architecture firm Emmanuel Combarel Dominique Marrec Architects (ecdm), the building is distinguished by the remarkable volumes of its audacious façades. This technical feat was made possible by the innovative use of Ductal® Envelope combined with Ductal® Spray technology.

Ecdm chose to focus on the material’s intrinsic finesse, precision, plasticity and watertight properties of Ductal® for the EDF building in Plateau de Saclay, in addition to taking advantage of the material’s flexibility, contraction and traction capacities.The specific advantages of Ductal® Spray give architects greater freedom to design innovative buildings. Using this material, the EDF Campus has been conceived as a compact urban neighborhood, and is a true architectural feat.

Description

Unlike the traditional American campuses designed as parks punctuated by blocks of buildings, EDF wanted to build a single, multipurpose building, open 24/7 and comprising training centers, reception and meeting areas, living and relaxation spaces and, of course, dorm rooms. With this in mind, the architects at ecdm imagined an ambitious project. Using a contemporary approach that took into account the stakes tied to land use, ECDM turned the concept of an inhabited urban campus on its head. The agency organized the campus around a central courtyard, with glass viewing points throughout the 360° shaped campus that showcased the surroundings. In this way, the campus integrates and highlights the landscape.

Challenge

The building concept uses distinct levels. “Everything is organized to create a campus that is easily understandable and navigable for people who need to quickly find their way around,” the architects say. For this reason, the hall, exhibition space and training areas are located on the three lower levels, while the private living quarters are located on the two upper levels, with dining spaces and areas for socializing or relaxation placed in between.

Optimization

The division of the façade into three distinct layers of Ductal® and glass give the building a unique visual identity .From the ground level to the third floor, prefabricated shells of sprayed, dark-brown tinted Ductal® highlight the structure of the building. These large shells offer a seamless visual appearance along the bottom layer, while optimizing use of material. A bicomponent stain in a 75% transparent brown hue reveals the extreme finesse of the UHPC mesh.In the living quarters, large prefabricated shells of Ductal® Spray encompass each of the 270 rooms in pairs, covering the blinds and exterior joints. A 25%-transparent gray stain caps off the crown of the concrete.

Aesthetic

ductal-12_projet-ecdm_architectes-j-r-my_bernier_1_1.jpg

Gallery

Discover our projects

Technologies

Spray

Solutions

Envelope

Great Mosque of Algeria

The mosque combines modernity and authentic design Ductal® was chosen for the facades around the minaret, the roofing of the dome of the prayer hall, the inner courtyard and the covering of the other buildings.

fondation_louis_vuittonfrank_gehry_lvmh_paris_vanity_fair_shoot-huftoncrow_029.jpg

Solutions

Envelope

Fondation Louis Vuitton

The Canadian-American architect Franck Gehry, laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1989, has designed a building swathed in an array of vast glass sails (large glass surfaces) and consisting of concrete facades with geometric shapes as original as they are complex known as icebergs... Icebergs dressed in Ductal® Envelope, using a unique manufacturing process that has received an award...

Solutions

Envelope

Yuhang Opera House

Yuhang Opera House is a 70000M2 performance venue, nestled between the bustling city of Hangzhou and the calm shores of East Lake . This new building forms the heart of a new cultural node in Yuhang, a fast-growing district in the metropolis of Hangzhou.

Solutions

Envelope

Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Art

Designed as a hub of contemporary creativity within one of the world’s most dynamic regions, the Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Art Centre is located at the heart of Jinwan district’s Western EcologicalNew Town where the new Zhuhai Airport Intercity railway provides direct connections with Zhuhai’s city center, its airport and Hengqindistrict, as well as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Macau and Hong Kong via...

Technologies

Spray

Solutions

Envelope

Shenzhen Yue Art Gallery

Shenzhen Yue Art Gallery is a renovation project, based on the original Jinwei Brewery District in Luohu of Shenzhen, China. Originally a cans production building, the north portal of the brewery district has been redesigned by BLACKHome Architects.

Solutions

Envelope

Kenitra Train Station

Ductal® adorns the new train station in Kenitra, one of the strategic points of Morocco’s high-speed rail route between Tangiers and Kenitra, and a new symbol of economic development in the country.

Solutions

Envelope

EHPAD Rue Blanche

The agency of Philippon-Kalt Architectes-Urbanistes was entrusted with the renovation and expansion of a unique care facility (EHPAD), exclusively dedicated to people suffering from Alzheimer's.

Solutions

Envelope

Belleville Daycare

The construction of the Belleville Daycare, designed by architect Bruno Rollet, proves that Ductal® is part of a reflection on green building design.

Solutions

Envelope

RATP Bus Center

The semi-flowable nature of Ductal® Envelope facilitated the pouring of 3D panels with a fine yet nubby Lego®-style texture. Only 3 cm thick, their lightness are made for fast installation and adjusting.

Solutions

Envelope

Community Center

The city of Sedan entrusted architect Philippe Gibert with the construction of the Torcy-Cités Community Centre. The façade was covered with perforated panels of Ductal® Envelope, allowing freedom from the limitations of natural lighting and glazing protection.

Solutions

Envelope

Vente Privée headquarters

Commissioned directly by venteprivée.com’s CEO Antoine Grangon for architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, the building known as Le Vérone proudly shows off a lattice façade in white Ductal®, visible along the A1 highway across from the Stade de France, on the outskirts of Paris.

Solutions

Envelope

DUMBO Townhouse

“DUMBO” (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), a historic neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York has been transformed in recent decades. Today, the former industrial zone is a bustling, mixed-use area filled with galleries, shops and lofts.