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AgroParisTech — Saclay Campus

AgroParisTech, an agricultural higher education and research establishment, has grouped its activities in the heart of the Saclay plateau, a scientific cluster.

Designed in collaboration with Marc Mimram Architecture & associés, this campus is composed of eight distinct buildings around a 2-hectare park: an entrance building, the Forum, five teaching and administration buildings and two large buildings that accommodate laboratories meeting international standards.

Our mission was to design the research laboratory buildings (L1 / L2 / L3 laboratories with S1 greenhouses and C3 climatic chambers) as well as an underground car park.

The research buildings offer large, scalable “platforms” with the aim of providing rationality of use and functionality. These modular research platforms make it possible to integrate variations in the organisation of the entities of each research axis, attenuating the partitions between the fields in a holistic vision of research.

Client : CAMPUS AGROS SAS

Location : Palaiseau, France

Size : 37 600 m²

Status : Delivered

Date : 2022

Key points

  • Brick facades.
  • Natural light, patios.
  • Laboratories L1, L2, L3.
  • Greenhouses S1.
  • C3 climatic chambers.
  • Evolving platforms.

Environmental perfomances

  • RT2012
  • HQE Tertiary Sector Building Certification - excellent ranking
  • Effinergie +
  • CEP RT2012 Label - 30%
  • Design of a glazed hall space with a greenhouselike operation
  • Use of plants and water in bioclimatic design.
  • Earth-based building materials.
  • 30-year energy commitment based on STD calculations.
Download the project sheet
Cours d'Agro Paris-Saclay
Laboratoires Agro Paris-Saclay

Intentions – Design Approach

The research buildings offer a malleable, flexible, and adaptable environment that aligns with the dual pace of a researcher's work: on one hand, focused individual concentration, and on the other, opportunities for interaction, exchange, and encounters within a constantly evolving scientific community.

Thus, individual well-being and group interaction form the foundation of the architectural concept of the Agro Campus. The large open floors are divided into various spaces that correspond to the different phases of research:

  • The time for research, withdrawal, and introspection, supported by modular and adaptable laboratory platforms.
  • The time for collaborative work, in dedicated meeting spaces.
  • The time for informal encounters, intellectual stimulation, and collective emulation, in convivial shared spaces.

Creating spaces that foster the emergence of new ideas—unexpectedly, by chance, in the course of an impromptu conversation.

Passerelle d'Agro Paris-Saclay

A hybrid and shared identity within the campus.

AgroParisTech-INRA brings together pavilions and distinct buildings whose volumes express their specific functions while forming a coherent whole. The symbolism of rhythm, repetition, and alliteration in the façades reinforces the shared identity of the AgroParisTech-INRA Campus: unity is expressed through compact brick volumes with large openings onto the landscape, illustrating openness to others and to the world.

The volumes of the research buildings resemble vast monoliths anchored to the ground, pierced by large loggias that open onto the surrounding panorama, allowing abundant light to reach the patios and the very heart of the research spaces. The rhythm of the façades for offices and research areas is based on a 1.50-meter module, with sub-modules allowing for partitioning into offices of 10 m², 15 m², 23 m², 30 m², 40 m², and 50 m².

Compilation d'

Team

Marc Mimram Architecture & Associés (lead architect)
Patriarche (associate architect)
Lacoudre (associate architect)
Partners:
GTM Bâtiment, ENGIE Cofely, Agence TER, Topager, Betip, WSP, TEM Partners, Artelia, Franck Boutté, Altétia, Alternative, DAL, Cider

Credits

Photos : ©Romuald Nicolas

Program

Education
Offices
Public
R&D-Labs
Intérieur bureaux brune Offices on Boulevard Brune HDF Factory