For the second year running, Lafarge,
world leader in building materials, will be exhibiting at MIPIM
– the international real estate fair – held from March 13 to 16 at
the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France.
The fair gives Lafarge the opportunity to unveil the project for a bus center
in the town of Thiais, south of Paris. Designed by architects Emmanuel Combarel
and Dominique Marrec, from the ECDM agency, it is covered in a Ductal® ultra
high-performance concrete skin.
MIPIM is also an opportunity for Lafarge to reaffirm its desire to work in
partnership with the world of architecture, collaborating on the design of innovative
and sustainable projects.
THE THIAIS BUS CENTER - AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEXTUAL ARCHITECTURE
Paris transport authority RATP, the third-largest transportation organization
in the world, will this spring inaugurate its new bus center at Thiais, not
far from Orly airport and the French national wholesale food market at Rungis.
The new building represents a dual challenge – it must combine functionality
and esthetic appearance within an existing circumscribed space. The building
is intended to be open 24/7 for service personnel and drivers, a total of 800
people, and at the same time it will house a security-protected operations center
that controls the traffic of 300 buses. Its box volume blends into the local
surroundings, actually improving them. The low-rise elevation (two stories)
does not make it stand out from the neighboring structures, but gives the impression
that the building is emerging from the road.
A DUCTAL® SKIN
The building’s effect is obtained by the use of slabs surrounding and
enveloping the building which are dressed in Ductal®, an ultra high-performance
concrete with exceptional qualities of strength, ductility and longevity. It
is also a sustainable material: not only do its thermal properties contribute
to reducing a building’s energy consumption, so making it a factor in cutting
greenhouse gas emissions, but its production consumes less natural resources
and energy than conventional concrete, which means lower CO2 emissions linked
to its manufacture.
In addition, Ductal® allows remarkable esthetic achievements. It is used
here as a key component in the architectural complex – as envelope, cladding
and an element linking the building to the ground. The great fluidity of Ductal®,
obtained in part by the presence of very fine granular components in the mix,
enables it to take on every detail of formwork: the exceptionally smooth surfaces
exactly reproduce the texture of molds.
A uniform gray layer with circular studs, like a gigantic Lego baseplate reproduced
over and over on the building walls and roof, is fixed like cladding and placed
directly on the foundations on the building surround. The upper fins of the
structure impart attractive curves, creating a highly harmonious effect.
Four colored areas – blue, green, yellow and orange – decorate apertures
opening outwards. Sharply contrasting with the gray of the building, they are
an artistic echo of the signs and billboards at the neighboring shopping mall.
A scale model of the project can be viewed at Lafarge’s exhibition stand
13.19 at MIPIM, at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes.
LAFARGE AND ARCHITECTS, BUILDING A CLOSE AND ENDURING PARTNERSHIP
Architectural projects of this type would not be possible without collaboration
with the world of architecture. As world leader in building materials, Lafarge
has committed itself strongly to this approach by working with designers and
specifiers. This partnership enables it to advance its materials, products,
solutions and practical applications thanks to experiments and innovative projects
jointly carried out with the Group R&D center, the world’s leading
research center in the building materials sector. Through their constructive
criticism, architects help the Group develop an increasingly innovative and
progressive approach.
Today, Lafarge considers that its responsibility to society must transcend
the boundaries of its own industrial sites and extend to the entire value creation
chain of the construction industry, from its own suppliers through to its end
users. Lafarge can work together with architects, engineers, owners and contractors
on more broadly based actions to propose innovative solutions that meet such
new priorities as sustainable construction, a concept that aims to reduce the
environmental footprint of buildings and improve everyday surroundings.
The concept of the environmentally-friendly Hypergreen tower, developed by
architect Jacques Ferrier in partnership with Lafarge and presented at MIPIM
in 2006, is an excellent illustration of this. This very tall building is designed
to be environmentally compliant not only throughout its entire life, thanks
to the use of renewable energy sources and high-performance construction materials,
but also during the construction process and its demolition at the end of its
life cycle.
Posted 13th March 2007
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