LA FACTORY | Mateo Arquitectura

When addressing this project for an office building, we started off by thinking about the entire city block as a series of buildings with spaces between them to introduce light and air into the empty space. In this way we began to see the building as a mass that formed Rue Emile Zola, like a complex volume. We had some prior experience with this type of building in terms of dimensions, depth, and so on, that went almost automatically into the drawings and models. I always start this way, with a very abstract volume as a base.

The history and the setting of the building also have to be taken into account. In this case, we were looking at the former Renault plant, which immediately brought to mind old stories of May 1968 and J.-L. Godard’s film Éloge de l’amour that was made there shortly before the factory was demolished.

However, when we visited the site, what we found was a huge, beautiful, expectant empty space, which involved constructing a new part of the city. As an architect, I like that sensation of emptiness waiting to be filled and taking on the responsibility of imposing clarity.

The main constraints of the site were the street, the inner courtyard and the adjacent elements. The site’s relation with the street suggested that the building should fold to protect the sidewalk in a very striking urban gesture: you move alongside the building and, at the same time, beneath it. It is a contemporary version of the old porches. The building provides refuge, protects you and then gently lets you go as you pass. It also opens up on the ground floor, connecting you with the garden at its centre which, though not big, is very lovely. The top line of the building is not horizontal; it slopes, adapting to the different heights of its neighbours and increasing the dynamism of the vanishing point.

Evidently, the program too presented constraints, producing some singular results. It called for flexible generic office space that will adapt to future users, but we also created particular spaces, such as the entrance, restaurant, conference rooms and foyers, which I hope will make it special. This type of project calls for clarity and regularity, to which we have, I hope, brought a new complexity. For example, seeing the façade made up of a constellation of different windows sets off an attractive many-faceted vibration in the interior.

However, this is a building designed in terms of volume and thickness, not just of skin. The façades are structural concrete walls, which were a major technological challenge, but the kind of challenge a true constructor loves. The proportion and size of the openings were calculated in relation to the expansion-contraction behaviour of the building. For reasons of energy consumption, the walls, which I would have liked to leave bare, called for thick thermal insulation, which we then protected with aluminium sheeting. The side walls that continue the roof are of zinc, a traditional artisan material that has a great urban tradition.

Another important factor is the project’s response to HQE, France’s high-quality environmental standards to manage environmental impact. The building has great thermal inertia, as it is well insulated and hermetic. In the south side, the windows are drawn back for protection from the sun, offering views of the established trees in the garden. The mechanical installations incorporate all the latest advances, and the design integrates them rather than merely attaching them to the building.

This is particularly striking in the roof, where the slope of the building is used to accommodate all the machinery. Technology is present but invisible.

It was in 2006, in response to an invitation to tender announced by SAEM Val de Seine Aménagement, that the project for the construction of offices in Rue Emile Zola was awarded to Mateo Arquitectura. Under the contracting authority of VINCI immobilier d’entreprise and NEXITY entreprises, a twofold issue was addressed: redefining the periphery of the street block and constructing office buildings on a 15,000 m² site overlooking the Seine, on floodable ground.

Josep Lluís Mateo, the project manager, seeks in each of his works to transcribe a form of vibration, revealing an almost organic nature in the structure. Accordingly, the Factory is designed to present an alternation of built and empty space, shadow and light, comprised of materials that are at once powerful and lightweight, creating a multiplicity of atmospheres and intensifying the solid appearance of the building.

Sustainability as a priority 

Acoustic comfort, visual comfort, the quality of the outdoor spaces and the integrated choice of ecosustainable construction products, systems and techniques are all factors that have guided architectural and aesthetic considerations. The building meets the requirements of the RT 2005 standard (Thermal Regulations), the most evident manifestations of which are the use of natural materials (aluminium, zinc, Corten steel, concrete and wood), insulation in the exterior, a green roof of hardy succulents, the integration of a natural smoke extraction system and the presence throughout of daylight.

Functional, flexible spaces

With the mission of accommodating work spaces, the Factory is designed to adapt to all kinds of businesses, with its flexible all-purpose spaces that are at once creative, exciting and serene. With wide open spaces on the outside and considerable areas given over to light and plants, the levels of the Factory offer prime working conditions. Spaces of a kind unseen in Parisian buildings have been imagined on level 2, around an inner courtyard, and on levels 3, 4 and 7, where outdoor terraces overlook the private garden. For the utmost in convenience, there are also conference rooms, a “marketing suite”, a restaurant and underground parking for 250 vehicles.

The Factory seems to blend into its environment. The main façade, overlooking the street, welcomes pedestrians, protecting and enveloping them in its central fold. The porch that opens up at the foot of the building, communicating the wings to left and right, runs through the city block and provides access to the private garden and the surrounding blocks of dwellings. The great windows enclosing the offices serve to draw daylight and vegetation into the spaces. Finally, the sloping roof adapts to the heights of the adjacent buildings and enhances the dynamism of the vanishing point.

Technology has a strong presence in the Factory, though it is subtly handled by the architect. In terms of construction, the actual façade of the building is load-bearing, and the car park, built in the basement, on floodable ground, is completely hermetic thanks to a system of diaphragm walls. Technology is also introduced in the technical installations, and in the air-conditioning. Cooling production takes the form of a sub-station connected to the urban cooling network, completely concealed by the slope of the building’s roof.