±¬×ߺÚÁÏ

Located below the platform on which the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ research facility will be built, the architectural edifice - over 24,000 m² - forming the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ headquarters was designed to fit harmoniously into its natural environment. 

The headquarters will be composed of three buildings: 

The first will be used to receive the public and will include a conference room seating 50. The building façade will be made from architectural concrete reflecting both style and structure. Extremely smooth and aesthetically pleasing, this highly resistant concrete can be shaped to produce some very striking asymmetrical designs. It will have a green roof to help regulate the temperature inside the building. 

The second main building with a surface area of about 20,500 m² will house offices for 460 people, a canteen catering for 1,000 people, a boardroom seating 200 people, and an amphitheatre for 500. Its architectural design aims at replicating the interculturality of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ project that brings together more than thirty different nationalities. Robust yet ethereal, this building will be 160 metres long, 21 metres wide and about 20 metres high. Its north-west façade is shaped like a bird’s wing and will be adorned with a shading system composed of 7 cm-thick fibre-reinforced concrete slats positioned vertically. It forms a protective veil against the wind which changes shape depending on the angle of the viewer, the light or the seasons. 

The third building (medical unit and access control) provides a connection to the research facilities. 

Schedule

It will take two years to construct these buildings. The foundation work started in September 2010 and the first walls were erected in late October 2010. Construction of the super-structure (floors, pillars, walls, etc.) will continue before the facades and exterior fittings are installed in April 2011. The specialty trades (floor covering, ceilings, walls, locks, etc.) will then follow. Installation of electricity, heating and the lifts should start sometime in November 2011.

Technical details 

Contracting authority: Agence ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ France 

Contracting authority support: Altran 

Prime contractor: A group of architects from the Var Department including Rudy Ricciotti and Laurent Bonhomme, working in partnership with the technical design offices CAP-Ingelec & SNC-Lavalin. 

Grouping of public works companies: Léon Grosse and Axima. Léon Grosse built the Pavillon Noir auditorium, the TGV train station in Aix-en-Provence, and both the Museum of Natural History and the Page 2 Orangerie Museum in Paris. Founded in 1881 by Leon Grosse in Aix-les-Bains, it is now one of the most reputed public works companies in France. 

Workforce: ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ fifty people in October/ November to 200 people during the peak expected in spring 2011. 

Cost of works: The works – amounting to about 40 million Euros – are financed by Europe and France.

CONTACT

Pascale Amenc-Antoni/ Sabina Griffith Pascale.
Amenc-Antoni@iter.org/Sabina.Griffith@iter.org 
Phone numbers: +33 (0)4 42 17 66 07/ +33 (0)4 42 17 66 17