Paris firm BVAU has built an extension to the headquarters of a French social protection company, featuring a glass facade that opens and closes automatically in response to the climate (+ slideshow).
The building extends the present headquarters of Caisse des Français de l’Etranger, which provides social safety for French citizens abroad, and it is positioned in a suburb to the south of Paris.
BVAU co-founders Jérôme Villemard and Eric Bartolo designed the bioclimatic skin to naturally light and ventilate the creating, but also to give it a “welcoming and pleasant” appearance.
Thermal sensors control panels in the facade, allowing them to open or close based on the climate.
Other latest examples of this innovation consist of a palaeontology centre in Barcelona, a glazed sports activities centre in Paris a residence with perforated shutters in Linz.
“We made the decision to experiment how architecture could fix its thermic management,” Villemard advised Dezeen.
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“Ecology is a really good pretext to rethink what can make architecture basic and beneficial,” he added. “The skin is a fundamental architectural element of the creating, generating an interior climate, and establishing the interface amongst inside and outdoors.”
Within, office floors are arranged around a big central atrium, which assists to draw light into the building. Some are concealed by ribbed wooden panelling, although others feature floor-to-ceiling windows.
Elevated footbridges connect both offices and boardrooms to the organisation’s existing 3-storey building.
“The client was really exact about quantities: how a lot of folks functioning, how a lot of rooms to include, how several meeting rooms, square metres and spending budget,” said Villemard.
“On leading of that really exact demand, we made a decision to function specifically on the attributes in order to organise the programme into two varieties of spaces: collective spaces, transparent with each other and individuals doing work spaces with more intimacy,” he added.
A concrete vehicle park and gravelled plant beds type the base of the constructing, intended to create a “surprising and minimalist landscape”.
“Elements of the projects are dealt with equal attention: an workplace building and an outdoor vehicle park, forming a facility with the current constructing,” explained the architect.
Photography is by Clément Guillaume.
Project credits:
Venture management: BVAU (Bartolo Villemard Architecture Urbanisme)
Consumer: Caisse des Français de l’Étranger
Engineers: 3A Architectes Associés, TN + Paysagistes, RFR, RFR component, Avel acous- tique, BETOM (TCE)
Diagram – click for bigger image 
Ground floor strategy – click for bigger picture 
1st floor prepare – click for greater picture 
2nd floor prepare – click for greater picture 
Third floor strategy – click for more substantial image 
Area – click for more substantial image 
