Quai Ouest von Brenac & Gonzalez

Fotograf: Sergio Grazia / Stefan Tuchila

The Quai Ouest building, located in Boulogne-Billancourt, possesses a broadly exposed 150-meter façade. The building has undergone a major restructuring and within this framework, the façades are designed to meet a particular challenge, both in terms of image and in terms of energy savings and the environment. A rapid analysis revealed a number positive features: a lovely location in the socalled media triangle, facing Canal plus and TF1, both national broadcasting channels, good visibility along the 150 meters of the façade, perfect exposure to the south and the west, a flexible structure in good condition, a good omen for a successful upgrade.

However, the project had to correct a certain number of negative aspects: exposure to noise of street traffic, absence of sun breaks on the highly exposed façades, outmoded architectural image which weakens the presence of the edifice, ambiguous and residual anchoring in the ground penalizing the ground floor. These observations taken into account, the project for the façade corrects these issues while also taking advantage of the all of the site’s potential. It unifies the volumes, enhances transparence and visibility of the lobby and changes the perception of the scale by grouping three frames, or 4.05 m.

The building, dating from the early 1990s no longer met international commercial standards. The client had envisaged a heavy restructuring of the general functioning of the building to remedy its obsolescence, to adapt it to new environmental standards and to give it a new architectural identity. After a structural diagnosis and surveys on the manufacturing method used on the façades, a new functional and spatial organization was planned, with a new façade system based on a ventilated double skin of glass on the interior upon which the sunbreaks would be affixed.

The proximity of the river oriented the project toward a changing and shimmering façade. To produce this effect, the glass panels were folded diagonally, thereby creating two triangles separated by a raised edge, the first reflecting the sky and the second reflecting the endless movements in the cityscape. This prismatic covering with moving and crystalline reflections plays on the perception, scale, accumulation and transparence; through the quality of its materials and the preciousness of its implementation, a powerful new identity will now accompany this second life of the edifice.

On the garden side, in the heart of the block, wood has replaced aluminum, with blinds in colored canvas being replaced by aluminum strip blinds. From a technical point of view, the solutions proposed have provided better performance than the initial project concept, as the materials used being more resistant to shocks and the wind.

Emerige

Brenac & Gonzalez

Fotograf: Sergio Grazia / Stefan Tuchila