OMA Wins Competition With Daylight-Filled École Centrale School of Engineering in France

Last week <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/oma" target="_blank">OMA</a> was named the winner of a competition to design the <a href="http://oma.eu/news/2012/oma-wins-competition-for-%C3%A9cole-centrale-engineering-school-in-saclay,-france" target="_blank">École Centrale School of Engineering</a> in Saclay, France. The new school will feature an ETFE-roofed superblock design, and it will be integrated into the urban context of the existing research and innovation zone of Saclay, southwest of Paris. A large enclosure contains a mini city with a central plaza and buildings connected by pedestrian streets. OMA's design provides a naturally daylit space that is protected from the elements.

<a href="http://oma.eu/news/2012/oma-wins-competition-for-%C3%A9cole-centrale-engineering-school-in-saclay,-france" target="_blank">OMA's</a> design for the new <a href="http://oma.eu/news/2012/oma-wins-competition-for-%C3%A9cole-centrale-engineering-school-in-saclay,-france" target="_blank">École Centrale School of Engineering</a> in Saclay, France is based on the concept of a "lab city".

Their plan shows a collection of volumes collected under a low-level, ETFE-roofed superblock.

This concept has multiple benefits and creates a contained mini city dedicated to science, technology and research.

Clément Blanchet, director of OMA projects in France, <a href="http://oma.eu/news/2012/oma-wins-competition-for-%C3%A9cole-centrale-engineering-school-in-saclay,-france" target="_blank">explains</a> "The design integrates urbanism with the school, supplanting the homogeneous experience of the campus. It's an attempt to define the actual esthetic of science."

Grid connected streets within the building provide direct pathways around the project and also cultivate collaboration, chance meetings and generate a new typology for learning.

A central pedestrian spine crosses the superblock and connects with the rest of the school and on the other side will connect with a new metro station headed to Paris.

The etfe enclosure not only contains the school, but also protects it from the elements. The result is like a city, but protected and filled with natural daylight.

The project contains a variety of lab and office spaces as well as a gym, administration center and classrooms for first year students.

The project was developed in collaboration with Bollinger and Grohman, Alto, DHV, DAL, and D'Ici Là.