Description

The optoelectronics factory of the Thomson company is located in a commercial park near Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. The design concept was mainly guided by the idea of integrating the premises into the flat landscape of a plateau and an improvement of the work spaces for the employees. Green spaces intersperse with the spread-out premises of the factory, blurring the boundaries to the agricultural environment.

The ensemble of the production facilities is composed of several strip-like buildings of varying length, whose arrangement is determined by a curved boundary wall. Together, the strips form an additive pattern that can be extended linearly by further modules. Respectively, production and assembly facilities are located within the parallel volumes. In some of the buildings spaces for the company’s administration are to be found as well as rooms for training and continued education of employees and customers.

The buildings are composed of a great number of equal modules that can be flexibly added or removed. Therefore, they can be gradually extended. Within the complex, halls accommodating various parts of the building programme take turns with secondary zones for circulation areas and mechanical services. The modules are based on a 3.60 m x 7.20 m structural grid for the secondary zones and a 7.20 m x 14.40 m grid for the main zones. The base module always spans 14.40 m. Curved steel H-girders are arranged in v-shaped pairs; they are supported by the framework of the secondary zones and the slim structures of the pitched skylight strips. Every module combines all functional, structural and climatic requirements in itself and can be equally fitted and used as an office, workshop, laboratory, or clean room. Optional installation of sliding doors and mezzanine levels offers high flexibility for the interior organization.

The most prominent structural feature of the buildings are the sweeping roofs which open up to the north, thus providing good daylight conditions. The load-bearing structure is a skeleton system that is restrained in the ground and allows for the halls to be generously glazed. Both the natural and artificial lighting system was designed by Renzo Piano’s office specifically for this project to improve working conditions for the employees through optimal lighting conditions for all workplaces. Due to window sashes which are only 56 mm wide including the casements, the daylight ratio in the building could be increased significantly. For the indirect artificial lighting a sodium-mercury luminaire was developed in cooperation with a professional consultant.

Interior circulation areas and mechanical services run parallel to the length of the individual buildings, thus creating a strictly linear pattern for the organization and potential extension of the entire complex. The transverse order of the buildings is more flexible and the volumes are allowed to move back and forth. Consequently, the contours of the compound are blurred, creating an organic form that is integrated into the landscape. Between the strips of factory buildings little gardens and green courtyards are set. Green spaces and working areas are connected by west-facing courtyards. The interior circulation areas are interspersed with little squares and designed to support communication in the vicinity of the garden. While the curved wall forms the eastern boundary of the premises the building strips can be extended towards the west. The landscaping of the parking and outdoor spaces also follows the organizational pattern of the building.

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Originally published in: Jürgen Adam, Katharina Hausmann, Frank Jüttner, Industrial Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2004.