Science park design by HerrerosArquitectos

Science park Cadarache, France 2007 Iter, Bâtiments Annexes-CEA, Invited International Competition. Second Prize. Area: 23.401 m2 Client: C.E.A Architecture: Herreros Arquitectos Project directors:Juan Herreros, Jens Richter Collaborators:Verónica Meléndez, Paola Simone Structure and installations: Intecsa-Inarsa S.A., Ingenierie Studio S.A.S Sustainability: CENER

The project consists of five pieces of architecture lying in a forest that is extremely rich and active from a biological perspective. After visiting the site we concluded that the best strategy is to occupy the forest without exceeding the height of the trees, turning the architecture into another species that respects, protects and shows the value of the forest. It creates a new and balanced system where the building and the trees share both rights and obligations. It can be deduced from the programme that two of these assemblies (offices and cafeteria) and the parking facilities, are large enough to require a committed and sensible strategy of implantation if we want to build them without altering the conditions in the host ecosystem thus creating an architecture that establishes a symbiotic relationship with its microclimate and density. To reach our principle, we refuse to clear away large areas to create unnatural glades that break the continuity of the natural cycles, and we propose linear buildings with an optimum and constant width that occupy corridors from which only the minimum amount of trees have been removed, ensuring that the outer walls of the buildings are as close as possible to the rest of the trees. The density of the original forest will be present and the architecture will appear to be filtered by the foliage.

Source: Herreros Arquitectos

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