YOU, Lot YA Paris

The new Parisian head office of Boursorama Banque occupies a prominent ‘front row’ location on the former Renault factory site, with its southern tip facing Parc de Billancourt and the Seine. On the one hand this means great views of the park and water, but on the other, direct sunlight into the offices during the day.
We approached the challenge with a clear solution that lends the building its distinct identity: vertical aluminium blades. Placed at an angle, the blades block sunlight during the harshest hours while retaining optimal views. The spacing is determined by the amount of sunlight and orientation, resulting in a diversity of facade compositions across the building.

At the same time, the building should connect strongly to its surroundings and be perceived as one coherent volume according to the masterplan. Also for this reason, the facade is layered horizontally in response to the smaller scale residential buildings. The recessed corners create setbacks for terraces and the rear of the building scales down towards the neighbouring residences while retaining the iconic front. Interplaying rhythms of vertical bronze-colour blades with the horizontal grid and recesses, the striking facades clearly set the building apart.