University Offices of Haute Alsace / Atelier Zündel & Cristea

Architects: Atelier Zündel & Cristea
Location: Mulhouse, France
Consultants: SBE
Project area: 1,200 sqm
Project year: 2007
Photographs: Courtesy of Atelier Zündel & Cristea

The need to build on a single floor, adjoining the existing structure, without altering the form of the plot of land through significant and costly earthmoving works, led us to design a building in the shape of a ribbon that breaks away in part from the natural terrain, before turning back in a loop against the slope of the land.

The building is located next to the main campus entrance, facing the intersection where the Mulhouse tramway has its new stop. While it would be difficult to speak of the main facade concerning the existing structure, that of the extension clearly orients toward a newly designed site.

While retaining the vocabulary of the Maison de l’Université : brick, aluminum, a linearity in volume, our intervention grants another look to the building, cleaner and lighter, giving the building a new identity.