L’Oréal Factory

Abstract

Valode & Pistre participated in a competition organized by the cosmetics manufacturer for a factory that was intended from the first to be a strong element in the image of the firm. The program provided for clients of L’Oréal to be able to visit the facility, and more surprisingly, the company selected the factory to pioneer a new manufacturing method. In a bid to give workers more say in the process, it is organized around “mini assembly lines” that are roughly the size of a large kitchen. Intended not only for manufacturing but also for administrative offices and a research lab, the factory is shaped like a three-petaled flower, and has ample views onto a central garden. The architects’ insistence on natural light in industrial facilities and horizontal views toward nature is evident in this design. One particularly outstanding feature of their design is the aluminum and polyethylene roof designed with the assistance of the engineer Peter Rice. Rice, who created the firm RFR and who had worked with Renzo Piano on many projects including the Pompidou Center in Paris, was a key figure of the team here because the roof’s complexity. The inverted pyramid joints he conceived sustain forces that come from as many as 14 different directions. Although computer assisted design had not reached its current levels of sophistication when this factory was conceived, computers and laser guided checking were used for the precision placement of 655 different types of panels in the curved roof.