Euronews Television Headquarters
Euronews Television Headquarters
Jakob + MacFarlane
SIZE
100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft
YEAR
2014
LOCATION
Lyon, France
TYPE
Commercial › Office
The Euronews project is conceived as a stretched cube pierced by two conical atriums introducing daylight, air and providing views of the river for the building’s users.
These atriums are imagined as two gigantic eyes looking onto the river and its environment.
Symbolically, the eyes also represent those of Euronews, abstract receptors, capturing the events of the world around us. An image that resonates with the role of observer of world affairs associated with the news channel.
The architecture of the Euronews Headquarters presents how an ambitious office program can be transformed into the most experimental form of architectural creation, one which seeks to reconcile formal innovation and sustainable development in order to improve the quality of life of it’s users.
The building houses the world headquarters of Euronews, a leading international news channel covering world news from a European perspective.
If the architectural volume is perceived as a monolithic block, it’s voids and façade enrich it’s materiality - colored, porous and airy.
The envelope is composed of a light façade mostly in glass, doubled with an irregular perforated aluminum skin.
It results in a permeable double-skin that plays with light within the interior spaces and enriches the perspectives towards the outside. This cinematic approach plays with the movement and flow of the Saône.
For the architects, the choice of green for the envelope is a reference to the color of the Saône and sets up a dialogue between the architecture and the natural landscape of the Balmes hills located on the opposite bank.
The gamble taken with this salient color is asserted here as a manifesto, that of contemporary architecture that shakes up prevailing standards to play a leading role in the larger urban renewal project.
Fabrice Hyber conceived the pattern of the perforated façade. «These are waves, like sound waves or diffusions. But also like those of water, or flux. Since 1986 (‘Mutation Acquises’ Exhibition, Nantes), green has been my color of communication. I thought that our two universes, that of Jakob + MacFarlane and mine, could meet - our waves crossing each other.»
The architecture of the Green Cube is presented as a rectangular volume that is pierced by two broad, conical atriums, designed to meet environmental and functional requirements while contributing to the quality of life of the building’s users.
The spectacular gesture of these voids allows air, views of the surrounding landscape and light to enter deep into the interior of the building.
It offers an innovative approach to bringing natural ventilation, both day and night, through the building. These atriums also open to the sky, offering spaces of relaxation accessible from the different office levels.
