Aware of the fact that the size of the plot and its fertility are assets for the part of a network of natural relay, we wanted to first establish a landscape project, and then to inscribe an architecture. The building’s facades will be trees, the site entrance a green walkway; the water in the region will contribute to the design of the park. The type of field permits a visual link between buildings and the exterior, and to create a coherent landscape entity. It seems to us to be particularly relevant to this project, in terms of size and relationship to the landscape. The perception of the whole experience will be more sensitive than architecture, and the scale will give us the opportunity to multiply and enrich the quality of life rather than serve the site.

The building forms a line from afar; while approaching, it becomes a multiple world. The roof will be hollow above spaces where light is needed, and screened when a filter is necessary in the summer, when it will be fully protected. This roof forms an open system that frees us from the constraints of industrial activity and transforms the site into a defined territory.

Regarding materiality, the only certainty that today inspires us is the desire to develop the roof as an element part of a natural environment, with a light and defragmented structure, which approaches the language of nature rather than that of architecture. The vision we have for the moment is that of a veil, a very light element, which filters light, lets it pass or stops it, on which nature can infiltrate, can hang from, can cross.

Client: Hennessy – LVMH / Cost: € 64.3M excl. VAT / Surface: 45 560 m² / Schedule: 2013 / Team: Terrell (Structure), Base (Landscape), ERAS (M.E.P.)