Bouygues World Headquarters

Project Details

Project Description

FROM THE ARCHITECTS:

Located outside Paris on a 75-acre site, this headquarters complex was built in two phases and houses 2,900 employees with parking for 2,600 cars. The site, recently used as farmland, is nearly level. It is bound on two sides by protected forest and, on another, by a major divided highway into Paris.

The design challenge involved achieving the monumental qualities and strength desired by the client, within the constraints of the local restrictions and height limitations, as well as developing an overall master plan that resolves the programmatic requirements while enhancing the working environment for a large French corporation.

The Phase I main building, with a form reminiscent of a French chateau, is intended to maximize the sense of a working community as an extended family. It houses two large atria, one for the entrance and one for dining and other support functions. This arrangement has the objective of encouraging the exchange of ideas and collaboration. Corporate offices surround the upper area of the dining atrium. A major conference center consisting of a 5,200 s.f. multi-use room, which can be either flat floored or automatically depressed to accommodate fixed seating for 400, and a 3,200 s.f. auditorium with 250 seats are located below this atrium.

Phase II is the pair of buildings flanking the main approach which contain offices for subsidiary companies. The special sense of identity of the headquarters is apparent from both inside and outside.

The entire building, which is clad in white precast concrete panels and reflective glass, is set upon a platform that contains two levels of parking. Stair towers form vertical corner elements to counterpoint the sweeping horizontality in a landscape that uses the classical devices of a long axial approach, reflecting pools, plantings, and sculpture consistent with the French tradition of large-scale architecture and planning.

While its baroque classical plan and symmetrical arrangement may seem to be steeped in the history of French architecture, the Bouygues World Headquarters embodies the typical elements of modern office buildings. Features include large, unobstructed floors more than 50 feet wide with full capacity for communications wiring, which permits completely flexible arrangements of furniture and equipment and high acoustical ceilings, and ample windows, which provides panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. A full complement of employee services are provided in the building. Also on the site, but removed from the main building, are sport facilities and a power generation plant built to provide power for office functions during long-term power outages.