This project involved restructuring an office building located in the heart of Paris, as well as transforming its facades. When we discovered the site, we were fascinated by its history. Originally a textile workshop built in the mid-19th century, the edifice underwent its first renovation in the 1980s. This initial intervention had the drawback of partially erasing the building’s industrial heritage. Large smoked glass curtain walls, typical of office buildings from that period, replaced the old workshop windows and covered the stone columns that had characterized its façades for over a century. These alterations, deemed by the French heritage architects as a degradation of the original building, represented, to both our client and us, a negation of its true self.
This project to restructure the entire building thus aimed to correct this obvious deterioration. Since the facades needed to be replaced in order to bring the building up to contemporary standards of energy performance and user comfort, we proposed incorporating elements in the new facades that would evoke its industrial past. This was achieved by exposing the massive stone columns that had been hidden by the 1980s facade, as well as by working on the rhythm of the window framing and selecting specific types of openings.
Once revealed during construction, the stone pillars turned out to be in very poor shape. The fixing of steel beams and plaster cladding in the 1980s’renovation had severely damaged these existing structures, and a strong intervention was required in order to give them back their former grace. We were able to do so thanks to the implication of skilled artisans, known as « Compagnons du Devoir ». Thanks to many targeted actions, these stonecutters were able to carefully repair each stone column. One of them consisted for instance in removing from each pillar the stone blocks that were too damaged to be saved, and replacing them by grafting new blocks cut just to the right dimensions. All these actions gave new life to these structural elements, and reminded how important they were to the appreciation of this building’s character.
In addition, the project included the creation of a four-story bow window, as well as a complete renovation of 2,850m² of office and common areas, featuring a restaurant, relaxation spaces, and a conference room capable of accommodating up to a hundred people.
Category:Office BuildingsLocation:Paris, FranceArchitect: Axel Cornu & Gabriel Verret, CoveArchitecture Office:Axel Cornu & Gabriel VerretAssociate Architects:CALQ ArchitectureDesign Team: Axel Cornu & Gabriel Verret, CovePhotographer: Severin Malaud (Former State) & Maxime Verret (Construction site)
