Carrefour crafts research center

The project highlights the privilege of the site by opening its natural spaces to knowledge. At first, the place feels untouched because the site is largely defined by the presence of abundant vegetation and a pre-existing farmlands. 

The originality of the program, that gathers three major poles (laboratories, executive education and a learning lab), requires an inspirational architectural setting which amplifies both the specificities of the uses, and the uniqueness of the Carrefour identity.

Four major architectural interventions structure the project: first the very dense program was fragmented, the programmatic entities were opened towards the landscape, the program was reorganized as needed: from the most private to the most public and lastly all the programmatic entities were reunited by a roof capable of making visible the institution at the scale of the large territory.

The architecture makes the Carrefour research and development center a monumental device in the city, by day and by night, a suggestion of the intellectual effervescence that it hosts.

credits

Architect: Clément Blanchet Architecture
Client: Carrefour
Nature of the operation: Private competition
Date: 2016 - 2019
Site: Ville de Saclay, France, in front of HEC Paris
Program: Mixed use. 8,500m²
Budget: 15 Millions Euros

TEAM COMPOSITION

Engineering : TESS Ingénierie, Alto Ingénierie
Sustainability : Alto Ingénierie
Scenography : dUCKS scéno
Renders: ROBOTA
Landscape architect : MUGO
Expert consultant : ARWYTEC,LTA, WSP France