Renault Technocentre, Le Gradient

Abstract

Selected by the president of the automobile manufacturer Renault after a limited consultation of four French firms (Sarfati, Architecture-Studio, Viguier and Valode & Pistre), Valode & Pistre laid out the master plan for the Renault Technocentre outside of Paris, described as a “city of research.” Unlike other corporate research parks, the particularity of this one was that apart from Renault no other firm is involved, thus obviating the need to differentiate one company from its nearby rivals for example. The orthogonal layout of the complex allows for change or evolution while retaining the basic city-like organization. Denis Valode asks if the type of orthogonal system chosen by the firm for the urban plan is “Modern or Chinese, Spanish or Roman in its inspiration.” The implication is that Valode & Pistre here call on very old ideas in order to make the most contemporary plan possible. Within the complex, Valode & Pistre were also chosen to build a computer sciences building called Le Gradient. Set against an artificial hill on the eastern edge of the site created when the Technocentre was first built, this building boasts one of the only circular forms of the complex, a round restaurant. Sloping upward to accompany the hillside, the building has a clear topographic element, but remains essentially orthogonal and strictly logical in its organization. The structure opens onto a garden environment on the ground floor, and a long interior “street” cuts through from one end to the other, giving access to the vertical circulation cores and common spaces.