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Architects: Arte Charpentier
- Area: 20000 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Boegly and Grazia
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Manufacturers: EN Corian , MARGA, Mosa, Nestos Grey, Nimex International
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Lead Architects: Jerome Le Gall, Raquel Milagres, Godefroy Saint-Georges, Vincent Lempereur, Frederic Chalco, Luc Jouy
Text description provided by the architects. ULTEAM is a rehabilitation project for a group of offices, that includes a Haussmannian building and a structure from the 1950s. The Hotel Particulier (Private mansion) with its main courtyard and traditional French garden, dating from 1820, is at the heart of the project. Close to the Champs-Elysees, the rehabilitation brings history and contemporary architecture together.
With a contemporary aspect, the facades of the new buildings are composed of large glass panels surrounding and highlighting the renovated existing structures. A vertical mesh unfolds along the façade on the street, on the main courtyard, and around the garden. Expressing the building’s essence, the mesh weaves the link between the different spaces and temporalities. The all-around glazing and the particularly open façade rhythm promote natural lighting on all workstations. Above the Hotel Particulier, two levels were created, including the 5th floor, the Nuage (the cloud), a space in the attic glazed to all heights, bathed in light, and surrounded by terraces that overlook the mansion and the garden; the space between sky and earth is quite singular.
The work on the interior spaces combines a careful restoration of the historic parts, such as the splendid living rooms of the Hotel Particulier with very contemporary spaces. The lobby is an example of this approach, combining elements of history and the clean implementation of noble materials such as marble and brass.
This renovation offers a wide variety of spaces: a gallery, foyer, multipurpose room, classified rooms, and office trays, all with the constant desire to offer bright, generous, and modular spaces. Like the rest of the project, the ULTEAM landscaped spaces, the main courtyard, the historic garden, and the many garden terraces, offer an elegant contemporary aspect perfectly integrated into a preserved historical context.
The paved courtyard of honor, the first outdoor space encountered by the visitor, is a contemporary reinterpretation of the Hotel Particulier courtyard. With the creation of flowerbeds of plants and a fountain to refresh it, it becomes a haven of peace that offers, on sunny days, alternative workspaces outside.
The garden, a listed green space of 500 m² facing south, is framed by the «garden front» of the hotel particulier and its two new contemporary wings. The aim is to recreate a traditional French garden, focused on the historical façade, but the lack of historically documented information on the garden allows a free interpretation of it. It is not a restoration but rather a creation where the classical motifs take on a modern materiality: symmetry, fountains, flowering beds, a central lawn, a frame of low-cut hedges, and a pergola for old roses.
Accessible or not, all the roofs are planted with large vegetal carpets. The accessible terraces, true places of life, are spread on both sides of the garden and offer large spaces to exchange, work outdoors, or have lunch. Finally, the terrace of the «Nuage» (Cloud), at the top of the building, offers an exceptional panoramic view of all of Paris near the Champs Elysees.
