This
pair of new office buildings is located in Saint-Denis in Paris, along one side
of the Place des Droits des l’Homme, a public plaza that connects the railway
station with the main avenue leading to the Stade de France. The project covers
350,000 square feet comprising offices, workshops, restaurants, and retail
spaces. The two main buildings consist of seven floors above ground with two
below-ground basement parking levels. A six-story atrium joins the two
buildings and provides an elegant covered entrance facing the plaza.
The
form of the entire project responds to the immediate context, site boundaries,
zoning, and program requirements. The massing of both buildings is articulated
at the ground and seventh-floor levels with setbacks to the facades. At street
level this provides an arcade to welcome the public, particularly from the
plaza side.
The
relationship of the buildings to the Place des Droits des l’Homme dictated
their orientation. As viewed from the plaza, each building maintains its own
identity while sharing a common architectural language. In this way the
buildings appear as twins, joined by a transparent atrium, sharing similarities
without being identical.
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