For IXCAMPUS, Baumschlager Eberle Architectes propose a landscape strategy that seeks to integrate the project into its surroundings, combined with an innovative approach to timber prefabrication, while preserving the gardens and architecture of the Anglo-Norman residence.
IXCAMPUS by Baumschlager Eberle Architekten. Photograph by Cyrille Weiner.
The complex is articulated through two clearly differentiated elements: the teaching building, with its elongated plan, and the Incubator, whose cruciform geometry marks the entrance to the site. In plan, both buildings are based on simple, easily recognisable geometric forms, where different shapes, although dispersed, remain connected through a common structure and a shared material language, as in the “visual scores” of Wassily Kandinsky.
IXCAMPUS by Baumschlager Eberle Architekten. Photograph by Cyrille Weiner.
The Grande Orangerie is conceived as a longitudinal building carefully positioned among the existing century-old trees. To enhance its integration into the landscape, the terrain is excavated to create a gentle depression, allowing the building to become partially embedded in the topography and reducing its apparent height.
IXCAMPUS by Baumschlager Eberle Architekten. Photograph by Cyrille Weiner.
At the entrance to the site, the Incubator is organised into four wings arranged around a central void that accommodates the vertical circulation cores and service areas, giving the building its distinctive cruciform plan. Its deep Douglas-fir façade is conceived as a woven screen that filters views and reduces solar gain during the summer months, while establishing a material dialogue with the timber framing of Château Saint-Léger and the surrounding trees.
Across IXCAMPUS, timber is used as both an architectural and environmental device. In the Grande Orangerie, large structural fins articulate the façade while providing lateral bracing and solar protection; in the Incubator, the depth of the timber envelope acts as a bioclimatic filter. This shared material language connects the two buildings while allowing each to respond differently to its position, geometry and programme.
