Lafarge Document

Thiais RATP Bus Center Designed by the architects Emmanuel Combarel & Dominique Marrec 2 Contents Thiais RATP Bus Center, designed by the architects Emmanuel Combarel & Dominique Marrec 6° -MORETHANJUSTADDINGSOUL 5° -ADISTINCTIVEBUILDING 4° -BALANCEAND UNITY 3° -ECDM(Paris) 2° BUSCENTER:CREATION -THIAISRATP 1° -DUCTAL® Written byPaulArdenne.Written PhotosbyBenoîtFougeirol; DR and realisation: HeadofexternalcommunicationatLafarge/realisation: and OF THE NEW ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING OF THENEWADMINISTRATIVE advocates ofcontextualarchitecture Dominique MarrecandEmmanuelCombarel, Offices, controlcenterandrest areahousedwithinthesamebuilding An ultra-highperformanceconcreteforinnovativearchitectural structures Architectural creations perceivedas“sculptureswithafunction” Architectural Physical, conceptualandestheticuniformity Concrete-clad building,emphasizingcontinuumratherthanrupture . A Group Lafargepublication.Conception DUCTAL life, Ductal tion andsor tia propertiesofmostconcretes,which,ifoptimized,helpsaveonenergyconsump- tions. Ductal tes haveinnovativepropertieswhichleadtonewandoriginalarchitecturalsolu- high flexibilityandthelackoftraditionalaggregateinitscompositiongivesDuctal Ductal times greaterthanthatoftraditionalconcrete. outstanding mechanicalperformance,withacompressivestrengthsixtoeight Developed byLafargeinconjunctionwithRhodiaandBouygues,Ductal as ultra-slimlineshapes.Ther its greatcastingfluiditytocreatehighlycomplexandelegantsimpleforms such strong forceswithoutbreaking.Ductal its namecomesfrom).Ithashighflexuralstrengthandcanbe subjected to It containssteelororganicfiberswhichgiveitductilityproperties(thisiswhere consequently Finally, Ductal Finally, polishing, pr different appearancesandastoneormarbleeffectcanevenbeachievedthrough Thesurfacesonanynumberof cantake the textureofmouldsprecisely. ® has aninfinitenumberofarchitecturalandstructuralapplications.Its ® also requireslessnaturalresources andenergytobeproduced, educe gr oducing anoutstandingestheticfinish. ® , ® helps r is a range of fiber-reinforced, ultra-highperformanceconcretes. is arangeoffiber-reinforced, is asustainablematerial.Aswellasincorporatingthethermaliner- ® , eenhouse gasemissionsfr educe CO the architects'trumpcard esulting sur 2 emissions duringitsmanufacturing. faces ar ® ’s uniquecompositionalsogivesit ’s om thebuildingduringitsservice e highly uniformandreproduce ® concre- ® 3 THE RELAY-TYPE BUS CENTER: The building looks as though it is rising out It blends into the scenery, while, at the same time, forming an attractive of the road or growing out of and fusing focal point. with the landscape of unbroken minerality. This effect is achieved by covering the entire building and a large tarmac strip Thiais RATP Bus Center: surrounding it in Ductal®. creation of the new administrative building This spring, the Paris transport operator RATP will be moving into its new “Bus Center” in Thiais (France). “As one of the world's largest urban transport companies and technology pioneer, it is only natural that RATP's buildings should reflect the company's image", states Rémi Feredj, Real Estate Manager for RATP. "The Thiais building certainly meets this requirement. It helps to improve the site's urban landscape. It is the pride of the hundreds of people who will be working there and represents a sign of belonging and a symbol of what we are all about". Based near Orly airport and Rungis wholesale food market, this administrative complex comprises various services on one site. As well as a secure control center which manages three hun- dred buses, the new bus center building also houses a rest area with facilities, open round the clock, for use by the managers, service personnel and bus drivers. The building was designed FLUID CASTING: by architects Emmanuel Combarel and Dominique Marrec from The building's entire surface the Paris-based firm ECDM. RATP appointed its real estate spatial continuity. Shaped like an elevated plateau, the building is covered with concrete subsidiary, SEDP, as project manager. looks as though it is rising out of the road or growing out of, and into which a 3D pattern fusing with, a landscape of unbroken minerality. has been molded. The area surrounding the new periurban-style building is clut- This effect is achieved by covering the entire building and a large tered with major brand warehouses and industrial buildings, tarmac strip surrounding it in Ductal®, which has a strong mine- wide streets and junctions. ECDM's challenge was to reconcile ral homogeneity. This elegant concrete “skin” runs along the edge functionality with integration, and design a relay-type building of the building before rising up so that the building (roof inclu- which blends into the scenery while, at the same time, forming ded) and road merge into a single coherent structure - bestowing a modern and attractive focal point. The architects plumped for the new Thiais Bus Center building with its unique identity. 4 5 ECDM (Paris) Other major projects by ECDM currently underway include: The designers of the new Thiais Emmanuel - the Tomi Ungerer Center in Strasbourg RATP Bus Center building are Emmanuel Combarel and Dominique Combarel: - a 9,000 m2 student residence for Espacil Habitat in Epinay Marrec, founders of ECDM (Paris), set up in 1993. Both are ardent Meeting the two-fold chal- - a 6,000 m2 development for the OPAC social housing office supporters of contextual architecture, taking structure, restric- lenge of respecting strict in Paris tions linked to function and the socio-cultural concerns of the sur- specifications while experi- - a 10,000 m2 housing development for Nexity Appolonia roundings into account. ECDM's style combines light, cohesion menting in Rennes and æsthetics, and effective simplicity is also a priority. "One with an original 2 new material. - a 10,000 m office, housing and retail complex, dominant characteristic can be found in the firm's work, as expres- Lyon Confluence, for ING and Atemi, in Lyon sed by Marrec and Combarel themselves. It is the desire to offer - a 5,000 m2 housing development for ING simple architecture with rigorous logic and without preconcep- in Aubervilliers and Metz tions, nostalgia or stylistic concerns." - a 6,000 m2 office and retail complex for ING and Crédit Agricole in Evry On site: Dominique Marrec and Léopold Lombard, Lafarge Director of architectural relations, at the RATP Bus Center building site. ECDM is behind many constructions, such as the Espacil Habitat student residence in Argenteuil, awarded the "Équerre d’Argent" in 2003, and La Tourelle school sports complex in Sarcelles (2005), where an elegant shelter now runs the full length of the sports field. This building provides an outstanding example of ambient lighting technology. Other projects include the HQE (French environmental Dominique quality standard) residence in Rue Louis Blanc (2006) for the Paris Marrec: housing authority RIVP, built over a ground-floor landscaped car Offering simple park and characterized by its roadside backlit façade. architecture with rigorous logic Designing the Thiais Bus Center provided ECDM with the perfect and without opportunity to express its practical and reflective approach to archi- preconceptions, tecture. The challenge was two-fold. On the one hand, it was requi- nostalgia or red to meet strict specifications which included housing monitoring, stylistic concerns. management, reception, meeting and relaxation facilities on the same site. And on the other hand, it was required to experiment with new physical and sensitive relationships to materials, including the ultra- high performance concrete Ductal®. In the case of the Thiais project, Ductal® is the architects' trump card, used as cladding to cover the building and as a physical, æsthetic element to merge the ground, walls and underside of the building into one. 6 7 CONTINUITY: A structure in phase with the surrounding industrial buildings. Balance and unity When working in the actual context, Emmanuel Combarel and Dominique Marrec never have a preconceived idea of what the finished building will actually look like. After a lengthy obser- vation and survey phase which generally involves consulting future users, the architects designed an administrative unit which is both ambivalent and suggestive, organically emphasizing continuum rather than rupture. “Our aim was to focus on the site's mineral nature and design a building that merged with and grew out of the road”, said Dominique Marrec. Built next to the old Bus Center and coach depot – both typical examples of industrial architecture – the new building supplements, and yet forms part of, the existing site, its cube-like form rising up in relation to the surroundings. The new Bus Center is characterized by the vast extent of concrete surrounding the administrative area and covering the adjacent road which welcomes the constant fleet of buses. The architects wanted to extend the road into the building to give the impression that it had suddenly emerged from the ground like a beau- tifully risen cake. The idea of designing a “skin”-type covering for the surrounding area and the building emerged quite naturally. This skin “creates the impression that the flow q 9 The building's skin looks like the world-famous pattern on a piece of Lego, except that it is enlarged and reproduced ad infinitum. q of traffic and the building are blurred together, endowing the site with a powerful visual density”. This skin looks like the world-famous pattern on a piece of Lego, except that it

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