University Building – Paris, France

Jussieu University 10, rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France

The University Building Paris, completed in 2006, was designed by Périphériques Architectes on the Jussieu Campus near the historic centre of Paris. The new facility serves as laboratory space and other classrooms for science use and completes the campus designed by Edouard Albert in the 1960’s to serve 45,000 students and researchers.

Architect: Périphériques Architectes
Structural Engineer: OTH batiments
Project Managers: Stephanie Razafindralambo & Sebastien Truchot
Contractor: CBC-SICRA

The structure of the university building is large format precast concrete, which contrasts with the lightweight aluminum and steel facade.

The structure integrated the same orthogonal grid used on previous structures on campus but introduced many new features into the existing building system. Albert had included only one atrium space in other buildings, but Peripheriques incorporated two separate inner courtyards.

Inside these atriums, bridges and escalators connect floors, making commute shorter and easier. Strong monochrome colors correlate to specific zones of the building and help with orientation.

Interior Wall Section      Exterior Wall Section

As seen in the interior wall section view, the walls and floors visible in the courtyards are smooth, grey precast concrete jointed together after assembly with a permanently elastic joint sealer. Light fixtures are suspended from the ceiling on each floor from cables, as shown in 4. The most interesting part of the building is the exterior facade. As shown in the exterior detail view, there are galvanized steel grids at each level, with steel brackets attached to them. A steel channel section runs up the brackets and holds the facade elements in place. The surface consists of ten different designs of perforated aluminum panels that cover the building. These different circular designs assist in filtering daylight and give the facade a variety of depth and complexity. Behind the panels, extra solar protection is provided.

Credit to “Detail Magazine” 2008, 2nd Edition