New Saint-Gobain Research Centre

Located along the Aubervilliers canal in Seine Saint-Denis, 15 minutes away from Paris, Saint-Gobain Recherche is a multidisciplinary industrial research centre at the forefront of innovation.

In the continuity of the existing centre, our project aims to develop the current site with the creation of a new office building with a capacity of approximately 350 to 400 people including meeting spaces, a restaurant, a cafeteria and sports facilities. It also houses a 150-seat conference room with a large reception area. Our project proposes to fulfill this ambition by offering a harmonious complex between the existing industrial factory building and the new building. The goal is to enable Saint-Gobain Research to attract the best researcher profiles in an innovative and high-quality work environment.

With this in mind, deliberately moving away from the volume of traditional office buildings, the new complex, with a total floor area of ​​9373 m2, has an iconic silhouette, as a reminiscence of industrial hall structures, reflecting the permanent innovation strategy of the Saint-Gobain Group. The building is composed of three large halls with a parabolic profile, the ideal arch geometry under its self weight, connected by two large glazed atriums.

As a tribute to Saint-Gobain’s past, the new research centre combines modernity and tradition. It revisits the architectural vocabulary of large industrial halls presented at the world’s exhibitions with cutting-edge materials and the use of high-performance glass to form the glazed atriums.

The repetitive and modular nature of our project offers the possibility of carrying out the overall master plan planned for the site in reasonable costs and to allow, in the future, the installation of new entities based on the same construction method.

Location

  • Aubervilliers, France

Date

  • 2018

Client

  • Saint-Gobain Recherche

Program

  • Research Centre Extension
  • Offices, Restaurant, Meeting & Conference Rooms, Auditorium, Amenities

Surface

  • 10.000m2

Estimated budget

  • 27.000.000€

Status

  • Competition

Design Team

  • Noémie Aureau

Consultants

  • COSB (cost estimator)