The office Muoto Architects has built this activities condenser that we bring today to the new campus of Paris-Saclay looking for that the building stands as a new meeting point for the students, the employees, the teachers and the researchers of the campus.

The Muoto Architects proposal hosts a mix of activities that are organized vertically, producing a great density of activities with a really small built footprint.

The building has been constructed with very raw cheap materials to reduce the costs and to built other necessary interventions. A true social condenser inspired by the buildings projected in the USSR and New York in the 1920s!

Description of the project by Muoto Architects

The project is a public facility, situated on the new campus of Paris-Saclay. The building hosts a mix of activities including indoor and outdoor sports facilities, a restaurant, cafeteria, and various public spaces: a pedestrian square, street terraces, park areas for deliveries, bikes and cars. The building is organized vertically with its different activities superimposed on one another, using the roof as a panoramic playground for football and basketball games. The different areas are linked by an open staircase that allows independent accesses. The building takes the form of an urban shelf, a vertical public space, accessible to all campus visitors, day or night.

It is a shared facility, encouraging the encounter of various populations living close to one another, but rarely meeting. The Restaurant, cafeteria and sports activities are made accessible to students, company employees, teachers, and researchers. It aims at creating a meeting point for everyone by mixing activities that are usually separate.

The building has been conceived as a minimal structure, using rough materials, robust and long lasting techniques. Technology is used minimally to provide a place that will last in time, without need for complicated maintenance.

In response to the low construction budget, detailing has been kept to a minimum. This economical approach has allowed for the inclusion of a generous public square in the construction price, ensuring a planted pedestrian connection with the existing academic buildings next to the site. The vertical configuration of the building provides a minimal footprint.

Read more
Read less

More information

Label
Architects
Text
Muoto. Gilles Delalex, Yves Moreau, Thomas Wessel-Cessieux
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Team
Text
Gilles Delalex, Yves Moreau, Paulo Neves, Anne Gerard, Andra Stanciu
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Collaborators
Text
Y Ingénierie, Bollinger & Grohmann, Alternative, Novorest
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Client
Text
Etablissement Public d’Aménagement Paris Saclay (EPAPS)
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Program
Text
Restaurant, cafeteria, indoor and outdoor sports facilities and various public spaces: a pedestrian square, street terraces, park ares for deliveries, bikes and cars
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Area
Text
4097 m²
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Budget
Text
€6,500,000
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Dates
Text
2011 – 2016
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Awards
Text
Award Equerre d’Argent 2016. Bauwelt-Preis 2017. ADC Awards 2017. Holcim Awards 2014
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Photography
Text
Maxime Delvaux, Studio Muoto.
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Muoto Architects is an architectural firm that was founded in Paris in 2003 by Gilles Delalex and Yves Moreau. The firm combines scientific and artistic skills that allow it to cover different fields: architecture, urbanism, environmental design and scientific research. Muoto means "form" in Finnish.

Gilles Delalex, is a French architect. He completed his studies in Architecture at the ENSA Grenoble and McGill University Montreal. He is Urbanism Master and a PhD in Arts from the University Alvaro Aalto, Helsinki. He is currently a professor at the Architecture School Paris Malaquais, where he is leading the Theory, History and Project Department. Between 2004 and 2008 he was a guest lecturer at the l’Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées. Since 1998 he is a research fellow at the Liat Lab.

Yves Moreau is a Belgian-Dutch architect. He studied at the Ecole des Arts de Saint Luc in Brussels and obtained his degree in architecture at the Chalmers Teknista Högskala, Göteborg. Between 2000 and 2001 he collaborated with Blå Arkitektur Landskap. Between 2001 and 2006 he worked with Christian Dior Perfumes and Dominique Perrault. In 2008 he was awarded the Nouveaux Albums des Jeunes Architectes and Paysagistes.
Read more
Published on: June 16, 2017
Cite: "Building for hyperdensity. Public condenser by Muoto Architects" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/building-hyperdensity-public-condenser-muoto-architects> ISSN 1139-6415
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...