Maison de la Radio

The Maison de la Radio headquarter is located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
The historical building of Henri Bernard - 1960 - became iconic by its concentric organization, with its outdoor omega-shaped building, its inner 'small crown' building and its 60 m high central tower, dedicated to the storage of the records and archives.

Become imperative to enhance fire safety, this rehabilitation also allowed to change the building in order to adapt it to the new ways of doing the radio.

The original circulation, exclusively concentric, has been modified adding some radial elements that allow to cross the building: four fully glazed bridges connect the indoor and outdoor blocks at the fifth level, and an new inner street (the "Nef") which directly connects the entrance hall to a new space in the heart of the building: "Agora".
Finally, the central tower has been deeply restructured to accommodate the new offices.

Designed originally as a storage place, the tower was characterized by a curtain of facade vertical and tight, consisting of a succession of aluminium vertical elements.
His new assignment requires a widely glazed façade while retaining the original appearance. The aluminum vertical elements have been replaced by similar extruded profiles but triangular-shaped, placed in front of largely glazed facade.
These profiles allow thus to leave penetrate much more light, ensuring nevertheless effective solar protection.

The Agora is covered by a circular glazed roof of 15 m of diameter Its structure, consisting of rods and cables, has been designed to improve the transparency and fineness of the profiles.

New essential links in the renovation project, four gateways (38 m span) follow the concept of total transparence needed by the architects.
Protected by glass walls, their structures are concentrated under the deck, thus freeing the views for users.