Cité Descartes

Outdoor spaces, landscaping and roads & utilities

Located on the Champs sur Marne campus of Université Paris Est Marne-La-Vallée, the Descartes + building, renamed Coriolis, is an innovative Positive Energy Building (BEPOS + 32%). Easily noticeable thanks to its novel appearance, the building was conceived as a pleasant, healthy place for work and exchange, organised around a vast hanging garden and shaded by the energy-producing roof.

In the university’s green environment, the planted areas may be limited but are a strong marker of the place’s identity and quality. The hanging garden offers a unique space – a magnificent “urban nature” garden, a place of meditation and contemplation, relaxation, respiration and freshness. Thanks to the evapotranspiration of the plants and shading in summer, the abundance of plants at the centre of the project contributes to the climatic comfort of the building, and its different users.

Rainwater is stored provisionally on the plot in a small woodland area that can be temporarily submerged. The pond at the foot of the building fulfils an aesthetic role, but also filters rainwater prior to its storage in special tanks.

Client

Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées

Scope

Comprehensive landscape design and construction of the outdoor spaces, landscape and roads & utilities

Programme

Outdoor development in the grounds of the building and creation of a podium garden.

Location

Marne-la-Vallée (77)

Design team

Atelier Th. ROCHE (lead designer: architect), ATELIER LD (landscape design and roads & utilities (VRD)), ENERTECH (BE Fluide)

Details

Year: 2009 – 2013// Area: 8,000m² // Cost of works: €12M excluding tax