Designed by Bernard Tschumi urbanistes Architects and Groupe-6, the new Biology-Pharmacy-Chemistry Research and Education Complex for the Université Paris-Saclay is one of the largest educational projects in France. The 74,000 square-meter (800,000 square-foot), €283 million complex is a major scientific center for the university. Located opposite the future Orsay-Gif Metro station on the Grand Paris Express, the building offers an outward face of the new university and the gateway to its world-class science and research facilities. 

 

The complex is made up of three major components—independent educational and research wings linked by a central atrium, or “Cœur de Pôle”—and includes research laboratories, classrooms and auditoria, social spaces, restaurants, offices, logistical areas, and underground parking. Bernard Tschumi urbanistes Architectes oversaw the overall urban and architectural coordination as well as the Cœur de Pôle and teaching facilities, while Groupe-6 was responsible for the research units with their laboratories and technical infrastructure. The site will accommodate more than 4,500 people, with 3,300 students and 1,300 teacher-researchers.

 

A generator of dynamic exchanges
The Cœur de Pôle is the main entry point as well as a crossroads for the different users of the university. This dynamic generator of exchange is extended through the clarity of circulation and the distribution of spaces along the two continuous internal “streets,” which encourages scientific collaboration by putting research and education in a direct relationship with each other and stimulating interdisciplinary overlaps among the otherwise separate disciplines of biology, chemistry, and pharmacy.