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VAL-DE-FONTENAY BANK, PARIS
ABOVE
The wood strips run in continuous bands and at several locations sweep outwards to form canopies
RIGHT
The building’s distinctive curving form was inspired by folded paper and the shapes of sound waves
referred to as Les Dunes, is wrapped in over 200 km of 100 per cent reconstituted, 100 per cent recyclable wood strips, formed into aluminium framed panels.
The strips run in continuous bands over the walls and roof, at several locations they sweep outwards to form canopies, over balconies and doorways, and appear to merge into the ground at the base of the buildings. De
́mians has refered to the project as a new and daring experiment in workplace design, she told ADF: “Les Dunes offers a new image of modernity through innova- tions in construction, in a gentle rupture from what has been done over the past 30 years. The entity as a whole is more than a building, it is a landscape.”
Clued-up client
Société Générale has a long history of commissioning innovative architecture. Its head office, at 29 Boulevard Haussmann in Paris, was redesigned in the Art Nouveau style, in 1912, by architect Jacques Hermant. The twin tower offices in the La Défense business district of western Paris, were designed in the 1990s by Michel Andrault and Pierre Parat, the brains behind some of the largest skyscrapers in the district. They connect to the slender triangular prism of the Granite tower, designed by Christian de Portzamparc, the first French architect to gain the prestigious
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
Les Dunes offers a new image of modernity through innovations in construction, in a gentle rupture from what has been done over the past 30 years. The entity as a whole is more than a building, it is a landscape Anne De
́mians
Pritzker Architectural Prize. De
́mians’ 2011 competition-winning design for Les Dunes has a much less angular appearance than its forebears, and a strong horizontal emphasis. The blocks are oriented east/west, to take advantage of transversal light and to allow for the creation of the communal outdoor areas in the ‘valleys’ in between. These south-facing gardens include a herbarium and trees to increase employees’ connection with nature. The project is bordered on one side by
the Val-de-Fontenay suburban train station, which handles roughly 30,000 passengers a day, and on the other by the broad avenue of Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny. The
ADF FEBRUARY 2017
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