Cap Gemini / Ernst & Young University

Abstract

A thoroughly modern company, Cap Gemini / Ernst & Young, has some 90,000 employees spread all over the world. Despite the firm’s well-established reputation for quality service, its directors felt the need to create a center where personnel could meet for carefully organized seminars. Naturally, the architecture of this university was an important element in affirming the discreet solidity and permanence of the company as the very choice of the site indicates. Set in Gouvieux near the residence and offices of the Aga Khan (Aiglemont) and close to the Chateau of Chantilly, the 50-hectare property was cleared by monks before becoming a “pleasure garden” under Louis XV. Purchased by the Rothschild family in the late 19^th century, the park saw the construction of a chateau in what Denis Valode describes as “Disney style,” a sort of assemblage of historic references. Significantly, in a country used to listing almost any castle, this Rothschild house was never listed and therefore not subjected to any particular official protection. Used as a headquarters for the German air force during World War II, the building was converted into a library by the Jesuits after the War. Denis Valode explains that for Cap Gemini / Ernst & Young, as an international firm with a French base, it was of interest to highlight their own attachment to continuity in business relations by using the chateau as a quintessential symbol.