Campus Orléans
New campus design weaves a subtle relationship with Orléans´ history.
TYPE OF PROJECT: University and learning center
LOCATION: Orléans, France
CLIENT: University of Orleans, Orléans Métropole
COLLABORATORS: It´s.vision and Letellier architectes
SIZE: 15000 m2 + 5000-5500 m2 car park
TIMEFRAME: 2021
STATUS FOR PROJECT: Competition
The proposal of the new plan for University of Orléans’ Law, Economics and Management Department (DEG) has aimed to strengthen Orléans' role as a regional capital in the field of higher education. In addition, an overarching vision was to design a new campus to help distinguish the University of Orleans more prominently on a national and an international scale. To do this, the project answers the various ambitions of the institution while anchoring it in the physical, historical and social context it is situated in.
Urban intentions
The new campus will be situated on the site of the former Porte Madeleine Hospital. The design includes the rehabilitation of the former Hospice General (Administration Centre), the construction of new premises (Student Centre), and an underground car park including bicycle parking and storage. The flexible and evolving spaces of the new campus will promote innovative ways of living and studying, also being conducive of unexpected encounters, exchanges between people and the cross-fertilization of knowledge.
UFR DEG faculty will be repositioned to the historic center of Orleans as part of a general urban strategy of recovering and revitalizing the metropolitan heart in dialogue with history; building a bridge between the past, the present and the future of the city. Relocating students to the city centre will bring diversity and urban life to it.
In dialogue with history
The old hospital, the Hospice General, will be rehabilitated and transformed into an Administration Centre, housing university service, teachers’ offices and research laboratories. As much as possible of the original identity and historical image will be recovered, while modernizing the interior in respect to technical, performative and functional aspects. Protecting heritage will be combined with the creation of new academic spaces in the city centre, along the historic boulevards.
Urban Island
The new Student Center, The Pôle Étudiant, appears as an urban island of suspended stone on a transparent base. Extending the volumes of the large urban blocks of the former General Hospital and the Hôtel-Dieu, the design is a continuation of the Administrative Center. The Student center takes inspiration from it's typology organized around courtyards, reinterpreting it with a contemporary spirit. This way, the new building weaves a subtle relationship with the history of the place, making it evolve in the present and projecting it into the future.
The base of the Student Center is transparent and porous, creating a physical and visual continuity throughout the site. It will contain a Learning Center, lecture halls, student life facilities and a cafeteria. The Learning Center, the heart of the Pôle Étudiant, represents the contemporary incarnation of the library, a space for innovative knowledge.
We have imagined a liquid space that favors a mix of functions and meeting places. The entire base is designed as a large garden - a memory of the historic garden - where nature and architecture blend to create unique study and work environments.
The skin of the active base, intersecting the exterior, will project an image of the education of the future. The façade facing the large square of the Zac will function as a showcase of university life, interacting with the metropolitan dynamic. The main access to the Student Centre is at the heart of the ZAC and the trident formed by its pedestrian lanes. The reception is clearly visible from the public domain. Functionally, the base interacts with the central square, the neighbouring streets, their shops and facilities.
Environmental performance
On top of the transparent base, an island suspended in stone; are the teaching facilities. It seeks to enter into a balanced relationship with the site and it's natural environment by adding new vegetation and building with bio-sourced, recyclable materials. The project will thus connect into a circular dynamic with short circuits. The project will take biology and climate into account to support a bioclimatic design. Combined with natural ventilation, a frugal approach to energy and thermal solutions, and the use of extraordinary natural light, it will keep a low energy consumption and environmental impact.
