The aim is to construct a unique building that will accommodate joint teaching programmes shared by higher education and research institutions of the École Polytechnique, the Institut Mines-Télécom, AgroParisTech, ENSTA ParisTech, ENSAE ParisTech and the Institut d’Optique Graduate School (IOGS).

Taking full advantage of its unusual outline, the building of 10,000 sqm brings nature from the neighbouring strip of parkland inside. An expansive atrium shelters light planting and a play of walkways and staircases that are also informal spaces where teachers, students and visitors can meet and work. These platforms, “spontaneous lecture theatres” and classrooms are brought together under a single roof to provide proximity and intimacy, with a direct connection to nature.

Encounters will no longer take place in corridors but in living spaces, in a setting bathed in gentle light with views and perspectives that change and surprise. Its wide, transparent façade will open eastwards onto the “Green”, an extensive public space with lawns and trees. The building reads as an open space, concealing the activity taking place at its heart, and stakes its claim as an architectural and academic symbol of the future neighbourhood.