Nation Office Building Intervention
Nation Office Building Intervention
TANK Architectes
ARCHITECTS
Tank Architectes
CLIENT
Ag Real Estate France
YEAR
2024
LOCATION
France
CATEGORY
Office Buildings
Text description provided by architect.
Situated at Place de la Nation in Paris, this project reinterprets the urban fabric through the reconstruction of a distinctive office building. The intervention respects the architectural scale of its surroundings while contributing a refined contemporary presence.
The program includes 1,700 m² of retail space at ground level and approximately 6,000 m² of office space, designed to prioritize comfort, natural light, and spatial quality.
The project responds to its setting with a restrained yet expressive architectural language. Two façades address Place de la Nation and Avenue de Taillebourg, referencing the rhythm and proportions of Haussmann architecture while introducing a contemporary material palette and refined detailing.
This approach ensures an understated integration within the historic streetscape while establishing a strong identity.
WORKSPACES AND HUMAN EXPERIENCE
The design prioritizes workspaces that foster interaction, visibility, and well-being. A balance of formal and informal meeting areas enhances communication and collaboration.
The spatial qualities of the interiors are carefully calibrated, ensuring optimal daylight penetration, thermal stability, and acoustic comfort. The use of high-quality materials and crafted details reinforces a sense of permanence and refinement.
A key ambition of the project is the integration of nature within the workplace. Landscaped terraces, totaling 600 m², establish a continuous dialogue between architecture and greenery.
Designed in layers that correspond to the building's vertical articulation, these terraces offer varying scales of vegetation, framing views and creating a sense of retreat within the urban setting.
The planting strategy follows the guidelines of the City of Paris, selecting native and seasonal species to enhance biodiversity and introduce subtle variations throughout the year.
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN HISTORY AND CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE
The transformation of Place de la Nation represents an evolution of the historic urban fabric. Originally formalized in the late 19th century, the square's Haussmann buildings set a precedent for rigorous architectural composition.
The monument to the Republic by Jules Dalou, inaugurated in 1899, further established the square as a civic landmark. The new intervention acknowledges this layered history, contributing a measured yet contemporary response that complements its context while addressing contemporary needs.
SPATIAL AND MATERIAL COMPOSITION
The project engages with its surroundings through careful articulation of massing and materiality. Large bow windows frame key urban perspectives, acting as extensions of the city within the office environment.
The ground floor retail space enhances urban activation, its transparent façade reinforcing connectivity with the public realm.
A spacious, naturally lit entrance hall along Avenue Taillebourg establishes a clear arrival sequence, leading to a vertical circulation core that opens onto the landscaped heart of the site.
The architectural strategy embraces adaptability, allowing for future spatial and programmatic shifts.
Floor plates of varying proportions generate dynamic interior environments, while visual connections to greenery enrich the experience of each level.
Outdoor workspaces blur the threshold between interior and exterior, reinforcing the idea of a living workspace embedded in nature.
MATERIALITY AND LIGHT
The building is defined by a restrained material palette that emphasizes longevity and sensory experience.
Light grey concrete, cast in horizontal strata, forms the primary structural expression, subtly referencing the limestone tones of Haussmann Paris.
Towards the city, these layers become more fragmented, dissolving into the surrounding urban fabric.
The play of light and shadow across these surfaces introduces a quiet dynamism, responding to the changing conditions of the day.
The architecture engages with light as a primary element. Transparency, reflection, and depth are explored through an interplay of glass, shadow, and material tactility.
The façades evolve throughout the day, capturing shifting tones and reflections from the sky and the surrounding city.
This dialogue between solidity and lightness, permanence, and ephemerality, defines the project's identity—a contemporary addition that enhances its historic setting while offering a timeless spatial experience.
