saguez + partners' reinvented headquarters in paris is a workspace for students and clients

the manufacture design is a new model of agency set in a classified historic industrial hall moving into a grand paris mixed-use eco-development. the global design agency saguez & partners has reinvented its headquarters as an incubator laboratory that aims to live and to work better together with the city, the students, and their clients. to be more open on the outside life, saguez & partners set up in its studio design act the first school in agency, and yaya, a mediterranean food restaurant. the agency’s architects and designers built their new manufacture in the only historic industrial hall conserved in the district the docks, an early twentieth century alstom locomotives factory. they found the right balance between the powerful and monumental nature of the structure and an open and inspiring ‘think tank’, thanks to the quality of the plan, the light, the volumes, the frame, insulation and acoustics.

a new model of design agency in a classified historic industrial hall

an exemplary sustainable development and social diversity respecting the character of the original structure, saguez & partners‘ new building adheres entirely to the district’s sustainable development. raw materials are warm and chosen for their environmental performances, their insulating properties, long lifespan and low carbon footprint, like exterior walls in cross laminated timber®, or moso heat-compressed bamboo whose stability ensures long-term durability. effective ventilation cools the air naturally and replaces air conditioning. at each hour of the day, natural light enters through the six-meter double-height glass canopy at the reception, the skylights and large bay windows across all three levels, reflecting off the office’s pale-colored floors, which involves energy savings.

around the generous tropical garden and its bivouac tent inspired by saguez’s projects in brazil

office and hotel services around the generous tropical garden and its bivouac tent inspired by saguez’s projects in brazil, where palm trees and more than thirty exotic plants flourish. the first floor is fit to welcome the visitors and for employees’ well-being: a tea-room, a cloakroom and an exhibition place in the welcome desk, two lounges, six different sizes and furnished meeting rooms, two gym rooms with locker rooms and bathrooms, and a canteen where are served each day fifty home-cooked lunches. open-space offices and meeting rooms to work differently inside/outside the saguez workstyle ® team, specialized in workplace design made their new office its preferred playground.

office and hotel services

the spaces are modular: a gym room becomes an offbeat brainstorming room with ottoman seating. specific places are set aside for moments of hyper connectivity, meetings, tests, conference calls or concentration, prototyping like in the material library. workstations are positioned along two large open desks on two floors which stimulate sharing, fluidity, mobility and creativity. two big green terraces offer different places to work, meet or breathe. the plans balance out cold and warm zones, opening up the indoors to the outdoors. they allow modular spaces, in a kind of bivouac way. horizontal and vertical connections make the circulation of people more fluid in order to stimulate exchange and encounters.

birch tables and benches custom-made by a saguez & partners affiliate line up alongside a printed wall hanging

canteen where are served each day fifty home-cooked lunches

meeting room

with the addition of quinze & milan seating cubes, an exercise room becomes a brain-storming space

open-space offices and meeting rooms to work differently

works-in-progress appear on a break-out area’s custom pinup boards

quick point and tea-room

the materials library. 150 sqm, with high ceilings bathed in natural light from the glass walls and roof

project info:

project team: saguez & partners — olivier saguez, boris gentine, jean-philippe cordina
architects: reichen et robert, cv2a
workspace design: saguez workstyle
furnitures design: manganèse éditions

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: apostolos costarangos | designboom

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