Description

In 2010, a public-private partnership competition was announced for a new building for the Paris law courts on a site at the Porte de Clichy between the new Batignolles district and the Boulevard périphérique, which was won by Renzo Piano (RPBW) in partnership with the Bouygues Bâtiment group. Alongside the requirement that the office tower be separate from the courtrooms, the competition called for proposals for an appropriate architectural representation of the motif of justice and the judiciary. Renzo Piano, the architect of the winning design, gambled with high stakes: at the risk of being thrown out right at the start, he proposed a base housing the courtrooms – with the office tower simply placed on top. The result: one building volume of great height visible far and wide.

This solution was, however, only possible if the ensemble could be brought in line with two very tightly defined – and also rather contradictory – sets of rules: the requirements for tower buildings on the one hand and the building regulations for public buildings with significant public traffic on the other. At the same time, the simple strategy of stacking the two primary elements of the functional programme on top of one another and the resulting “cosmetic anomaly” – its great height of 160 metres – also answered the question of a suitable symbolic interpretation for the new building.

Consequently, the designers have focussed their efforts on lessening the effect of the massive building on the surrounding (urban) landscape. To begin with, the building is broken into three parts that step back demonstratively in the direction of the city but are practically no longer legible on the façade towards Clichy. The sections are separated by deep incisions made possible by wide projecting cantilevers that transfer the load of the block above to the load-bearing core of the building. The roof gardens at these open levels pick up the theme of the rooftop terrace garden of the base building. A second strategy for decreasing the visual mass of the building is the extension of the glass curtain walling on the long sides far beyond the edges of the building. The “blurring” of the edges lends a certain lightness to the bulk of the building blocks. Depending on the weather and incidence of light, the building can disappear in the grey cloudy sky of a rainy day, or alternatively, on a clear day, the three massive blocks seem to float almost weightlessly in space in a quite surreal manner.

On entering the lofty entrance hall of the Civil Court, the mass of light falling through the round incisions in the ceiling blends and diffuses with the light from the glazed frontage to the eastern forecourt that extends down to the ground. Escalators lead up from here to the 90 courtrooms, most of which are partially naturally illuminated. Daylight enters from the atrium behind the public gallery on one side and from the outer façade behind the judges’ bench. This deliberate articulation of the lighting, which is intended to ease tension and lighten the atmosphere, continues in the internal circulation. The design of the different routes is likewise carefully considered: while the public enters the courtrooms from the central entrance hall, the judges enter via an external corridor along the glazed façade, which also provides access to the consultation rooms. The defendants, on the other hand, enter the courtrooms via waiting cells directly adjacent to the halls, accessed via dedicated lifts from the basement. The message is clear: this is less a place of execution, and more a public plaza akin to an airport, shopping arcade or hospital – a courthouse that deliberately aims not to legitimise justice by means of architectural style.

Originally published in Bauwelt 08.2018, pp. 38-45, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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