“ The architecture has sought a fragile and exciting balance between a heritage listed as a historical monument and a contemporary style .
ARCHITECTURAL FOCUS
THE CONCEPT
The architecture has sought a fragile and exciting balance between a heritage listed as a historical monument and a contemporary style . The attic has been designed on the borders of minimalism , where this major artistic trend pushes the picturesque referent to the limit of abstraction . This referent is drawn from the industrial functionalism of the 19th century .
It was a time when natural light was a must and the facades of the workshops vied with each other to capture it . It was a time when Romanticism was slowly moving towards modernity . With this in mind , the extension building volume was designed as a glass abstraction with a timeless pre-weathered metal . The object is materialised by a systematic repetition of vertical bands alternating glass and metal . These graphic lines follow one another in an inflexible rhythm and run across the four façades of the project .
Seen from the front , the rusty steel strips hide from view and give a transparent massiveness . Seen in profile , the steel blades quickly hide the thin openings and give the impression of opaque massiveness . Thus , those who walk along this façade will see it become more opaque the further they look .
The six bays of arcades , formerly destroyed in the central part after the building was abandoned , have been reconstituted in this spirit of atemporal abstraction . Here , the steel blades are densified on the traces of the stone arches to evoke their disappeared contours .
Three levels have been developed in the envelope of the former workshop . The ground floor is dedicated to the Innovation Centre , which consists of new workshops that house high-tech machines for applied research . The first floor is divided between a Learning Center ( resource centre ), a business incubator and innovative teaching . Finally , the top floor is entirely occupied by a teaching centre . The interior architecture is sober and bright . The muffled ambiences combine whites and matt minerals with raw concrete . The agora sets the scene for this theme on a triple height . The roof is covered with zinc and oriented in an impluvium to make it disappear into the urban landscape and to reduce the depth of the skylights intended to naturally light the central axis of the floors . No unsightly machines such as air handling units were placed on this roof . All these elements have been integrated into the built volumes . Finally , the structural stone of the remains was restored and integrated into the overall static scheme . A singular complex , interposing a wood-frame wall and concrete porticos to the stone , was designed especially for this operation .
FUNCTIONING
The CSI is intended to bring together on the same campus all the interdisciplinary training and research skills of the Jean Monnet University around Innovation . With the redeployment of the teaching and research activities of the Faculty of Science and Technology to the Forges Building , the CSI will accommodate nearly 900 people , students , doctoral students , teachers , researchers and administrative staff . They will join the forces already present on the Manufacture Campus .
A true place of hybridization and synergies , the CSI is dedicated to Innovation , creating the conditions for collaboration within a unique ecosystem integrating high-level training , research activities of international influence , a great capacity for experimentation and a strong entrepreneurial culture . This innovation dynamic will extend beyond the university to the entire region .
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