Restructuring the 60s: Grande Armée - L1ve | Baumschlager Eberle Architekten

“A project of restructuring allows to magnify a strong architectural gesture”, says Anne Speicher from our Paris office, explaining the fundamental idea behind the renovation of the former Peugeot headquarters near the Arc de Triomphe. The project involves an exciting, 110-metre-long façade in the central Parisian urban space. The existing concrete structure forms the backdrop for an innovative window system. This pattern works as simply as it does intelligently: Sober openings alternate with protruding box-type windows that are placed at different depths into the concrete structure. The elementary aspects of that architecture are implemented in the following manner: rhythm, plasticity and self-reliant order are mapped on the façade, which lends the address and project "75, Avenue de la Grande Armée" - now L1ve - a strong physiognomy.

Yet, the project with 35.000 m² gross floor area accomplishes even more: open office structures, the former car showrooms on ground floor and large open spaces are combined to create an environment only partially dedicated to traditional desk work. While the groundwork for such interventions was already laid out, Baumschlager Eberle Architects developed it further.