Laboratory building and offices

Laboratory building and offices

The existing administrative building and laboratory of a water treatment works serving the Paris region was to be refurbished and extended as part of a major refit of the plant and site. The context of an industrial process and strong industrial aesthetic gave rise to an innovative solution involving the vertical extension of the building. In this way the strong and simple ‘footprint’ of the building in the overall Master plan of the works was maintained. The vertical extension provided an economic solution by avoiding costly foundations in a site riddled with underground galleries and reservoirs. A relook of the facades in a semi- transparent skin of ‘brise soleil’ solved secondary solar gain problems whilst also integrating the building into the surrounding industrial new build.