ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION
CONSTRUCTION OF A PASSIVE INNOVATION CAMPUS
SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE - FRANCE
WINNING PROJECT
environnement at the heart of the project
The transformation of the campus should be integrated into its natural surroundings and minimise its impact on them. To achieve this, the project will have to be ingenious in order to meet the following requirements:
- Passive buildings : The energy consumption of the buildings constructed must not only be controlled, but reduced to a strict minimum. Passive building standards must be met.
- Biophilic design : The park of the Château Saint-Léger and the surrounding wooded areas form a privileged natural setting that the project must enhance. The boundaries between the building and the park will have to be blurred in favor of an architecture integrated into its environment, favoring biodiversity and proximity of users to the living.
- Low-carbon construction : Particular attention will be paid to the carbon impact of construction before being operated, with preference given to the use of bio-sourced, geo-sourced and local materials. The objective is to move towards a Net Zero Carbon Campus.
cross-fertilization for innovation
Through executive education and design-based incubation programmes, iXcampus fosters open innovation and creates the conditions for the development of impactful technological solutions to environmental and societal challenges.
The method: building bridges between ideas, talents and resources. Anchored in and open to the city, the campus is part of its history and responds to the challenges of its territory. iXcampus offers a living experience and a demonstrator of positive impact innovation. The campus is also moving towards a sustainable management model in terms of procurement, building sustainability, energy consumption and waste management.
The project must therefore respond to multiple challenges:
- Design a sustainable and reversible building complex that can accommodate any type of programme on the campus over the long term, and allowing tomorrow's uses to be established there without having to modify the structures already present.
- Enable the emergence of human and technological synergies through innovative spaces and offer cross-fertilization to stakeholders in the worlds of business, research and higher research and higher education.
a place filled with history
The 7-hectare project site bears witness to a history that began at the end of the 19th century and whose buildings, with their highly distinctive identities, reflect the different eras that have followed.
Built between 1884 and 1886 by the architect Léon Carle for the wealthy industrialist Charles Sieber, the Château Saint-Léger has become the symbol of the current iXcampus site.
In 1946, the Institut de Recherche de la Sidérurgie (IRSID) acquired the estate and set up its research centre there. In the early 1950s, this new vocation led to the construction of a group of buildings, many of which were designed by Jean Prouvé, such as the very airy Grand Escalier serving all floors of the main building.
In 1988, Dominique Perrault was commissioned to design an ambitious restructuring of the château. After three years of major renovation and underground extension work, the project led to the creation of a 200-seat conference centre and the installation of a glass slab, the only element visible from the outside, giving it a contemporary dimension.
In 2016, iXblue arrived on the Saint-Germain-en-Laye site with the establishment of a research centre and its head office in the existing buildings. Since then, the company has created iXcampus and undertaken a vast renovation and modernisation project, creating a restaurant and a sports centre.
Positioning of the buildings to be constructed on the Campus
