IGN and Météo France Geosciences centre | Architecture Patrick Mauger

The IGN and Météo France Geosciences centre: a major renovation operation permitting the transformation of a 1980’s block into a Very High Energy Performance (VHEP) building with a surface area of 15,900 m².

The agency’s work concentrated on IGN’s B building, opening it out through the creation of a garden shared with building A.

The programme called for the conservation of the volumes through the creation of central patios. The agency went even further, freeing the space between the buildings and creating a single entity for the newly rehabilitated building.

Initially comprising offices and workshops, as well as a first aid station and an inter-company restaurant, the building has been enriched through the incorporation of new amenities such as a multimedia library, a music room, and sports halls.

The timber framed façades reinforce the identity of the site, developing a certain osmosis with building A while simultaneously affirming its durable and innovative nature through its exceptional proportions.

It is a VHEP building able to meet the strictest environmental performance criteria.

Apart from the spatial densification and harmonisation of the façade, the design work integrated all aspects linked to energy performance: façade glazing chosen to meet thermal and acoustic requirements; thermal stacks distributed over the length of the building to extract hot air from the corridors (summer) and recuperate hot air from the south and west façades for redistribution to the offices (winter).

A large number of other complementary active systems have been developed to enrich this environmental approach: use of geothermal energy, recuperation of energy from all air handling plants, rooftop installation of solar panels and creation of a planted roof to reduce leakage flows and increase the building’s thermal inertia.