The 160m long building accommodates three areas: a resources area, a teaching area and a research area, on three levels. Above the preserved structure, was built a new level with glass and pre-weathered steel corten steel, highlighting and enhancing the preserved stone and brick arches and creating an interesting play with light.
Les Forges, Knowledge Centre for Innovation by K Architectures. Photograph by Sophie ODDO.
Les Forges, Knowledge Centre for Innovation by K Architectures. Photograph by Sophie ODDO.
Three levels have been developed in the shell of the former workshop. The ground floor is dedicated to the Innovation Centre, which consists of new workshops that house high-tech machines for applied research. The first floor is divided between a Learning Center (resource centre), a business incubator and innovative teaching. Finally, the top floor is entirely occupied by a teaching centre. The interior architecture is sober and bright.
The next step of renovation will be a second section, with a surface area of 4,561 m², that will complete the program on the block opposite, on the other side of rue Annino, nearly 12,000 m² dedicated to innovation.
Les Forges, Knowledge Centre for Innovation by K Architectures. Photograph by Sophie ODDO.
Project description by K Architectures
The context
This building is one of the main wings of the former Saint-Etienne arms factory. This industrial estate was built in 1864. It covers an area of twelve hectares to the north of the city centre. Designed in the spirit of the rationalist architecture of the 18th century, such as Claude Nicolas Ledoux's saltworks or the Grand-Hornu near Mons, the factory is an industrial and military "palace" composed of white stone and red brick. It embodies the aesthetic ideal of an era intoxicated by the fortunes generated by the industrial revolution. It is also an emblematic site in the history of the city, whose conversion into a creative district hosts prestigious programmes such as the Cité du Design and university branches as well as the Centre des Savoirs pour l'Innovation (CSI).
Here, the meeting of the industrial architectural heritage with the world of culture and knowledge of today has undeniably generated a "genius loci ».
"Les Forges" is the building that forms the eastern facade of the former industrial city. The neoclassical building was a 135 m long workshop that was 22 m high. The decline of the factory led to its final closure in 1989. The entire site was abandoned to the wonderful fate of wasteland before being listed as a historical monument in 2006. The forge is one of the elements that will have waited for the longest for its reconversion. It endured almost 30 years of abandonment and even burned down in part. All that remained of it were four deteriorated facades, the main one of which was gutted out.
The challenge
The CSI was set as close as possible to the remains of the Forges workshop. Because the program was larger than the existing building, a third of the requested areas exceeded its capable volumes; a third was submerged above its bourgeois cornices.
Les Forges, Knowledge Centre for Innovation by K Architectures. Photograph by Sophie ODDO.
The concept
The architecture has sought a fragile and exciting balance between a heritage listed as a historical monument and a contemporary style. The attic has been designed on the borders of minimalism, where this major artistic trend pushes the picturesque referent to the limit of abstraction. This referent is drawn from the industrial functionalism of the 19th century.
It was a time when natural light was a must and the facades of the workshops vied with each other to capture it. It was a time when Romanticism was slowly moving towards modernity. With this in mind, the extension building volume was designed as a glass abstraction with a timeless pre-weathered metal. The object is materialised by a systematic repetition of vertical bands alternating glass and metal. These graphic lines follow one another in an inflexible rhythm and run across the four façades of the project.
Seen from the front, the rusty steel strips hide from view and give a transparent massiveness. Seen in profile, the steel blades quickly hide the thin openings and give the impression of opaque massiveness. Thus, those who walk along this façade will see it become more opaque the further they look.
The six bays of arcades, formerly destroyed in the central part after the building was abandoned, have been reconstituted in this spirit of atemporal abstraction. Here, the steel blades are densified on the traces of the stone arches to evoke their disappeared contours.
Three levels have been developed in the envelope of the former workshop. The ground floor is dedicated to the Innovation Centre, which consists of new workshops that house high-tech machines for applied research. The first floor is divided between a Learning Center (resource centre), a business incubator and innovative teaching. Finally, the top floor is entirely occupied by a teaching centre. The interior architecture is sober and bright.
The muffled ambiences combine whites and matt minerals with raw concrete.
The agora sets the scene for this theme on a triple height. The roof is covered with zinc and oriented in an impluvium to make it disappear into the urban landscape and to reduce the depth of the skylights intended to naturally light the central axis of the floors. No unsightly machines such as air handling units were placed on this roof. All these elements have been integrated into the built volumes. Finally, the structural stone of the remains was restored and integrated into the overall static scheme. A singular complex, interposing a wood-frame wall and concrete porticos to the stone, was designed especially for this operation.
Les Forges, Knowledge Centre for Innovation by K Architectures. Photograph by Sophie ODDO.
Funcionamiento
El CSI pretende reunir en un mismo campus todas las capacidades interdisciplinares de formación e investigación de la Universidad Jean Monnet en torno a la Innovación. Con la reubicación de la actividad docente e investigadora de la Facultad de Ciencias y Tecnología en el Edificio Forges, el CSI acogerá a cerca de 900 personas, entre estudiantes, doctorandos, docentes, investigadores y personal administrativo. Se unirán a las fuerzas ya presentes en el Campus de la Manufactura.
Verdadero lugar de hibridación y sinergias, el CSI se dedica a la Innovación, creando las condiciones para la colaboración dentro de un ecosistema único que integra formación de alto nivel, actividades de investigación de proyección internacional, una gran capacidad de experimentación y una fuerte cultura emprendedora. Esta dinámica de innovación se extenderá más allá de la universidad a toda la región.
El CSI está desarrollando tres polos funcionales: un centro de recursos y documentación (Learning Center), un centro de enseñanza y un centro de innovación. Estos tres polos se articulan en torno a un espacio público denominado ágora.
Ágora
El ágora, verdadero corazón del proyecto, se sitúa en el eje histórico Este-Oeste de la Manufactura en el centro del Edificio Forges. El Ágora, que atraviesa el edificio, da acceso al Centro del Conocimiento a través de la Rue du Docteur Rémy Annino y la Rue Claudius Ravachol. Beneficiándose de una triple y doble altura, es el espacio federador del proyecto al servicio de todas las polaridades del proyecto.
En la planta baja, el ágora incluye recepción, convivencia, refrigerio, exposición en forma de un gran espacio abierto.
En el primer piso, una pasarela suspendida abierta cruza el volumen y forma el ágora superior que sirve al Centro de Aprendizaje, creando un fuerte vínculo visual entre los dos pisos.
Clúster de innovación
El clúster de innovación está compuesto por cuatro áreas principales: las plataformas tecnológicas, el hotel de proyectos, la D'Factory y la incubadora.
El acceso a este conjunto se puede realizar directamente desde el ágora de la planta baja, y también se beneficia de accesos secundarios al norte y al sur del solar frente al Campus. La mayor parte del centro de innovación está ubicado en la planta baja, lo que proporciona un escaparate para el edificio, aprovechando el volumen del edificio, que hace eco del pasado industrial del sitio.
Las plataformas tecnológicas, células independientes y modulares, son locales mixtos de investigación/formación que reproducen un entorno más o menos tecnológico.
El hotel del proyecto es similar en uso a las plataformas tecnológicas, por períodos limitados de tiempo, sin necesidad de infraestructura tipo industrial o de laboratorio. También se ubica en la planta baja en la continuidad de las plataformas tecnológicas. Las cuatro celdas de proyecto están unidas para que puedan ser moduladas.
La D'Factory (fábrica de la innovación) proporciona locales propicios para la creatividad con el objetivo de ofrecer un camino completo desde la ideación hasta la preindustrialización (Fab Lab).
La incubadora USE'In está ubicada en el primer piso al sur sobre la D'factory, con la que está vinculada, y alberga empresas jóvenes e innovadoras en forma de oficinas terciarias modulares.
Les Forges, Knowledge Centre for Innovation by K Architectures. Photograph by Sophie ODDO.
Documentary resources and services pole - Learning Center
The whole of the resources and documentary services centre is located on a single plateau on the first floor.
Visible from the upper agora, it plays an important role in the attractiveness of the Centre des Savoirs.
Located at the top of the arcades, it benefits from the historic setting of the Forges building, while being largely lit by natural light. The resource centre functions as a large, open-plan "Learning Centre", where convivial spaces, work areas, shelving, etc., are located side by side.
The Learning Center is intended to be a place for living and socialising as well as for training and academic work. As a support for teaching and research, it welcomes all CSI and Campus Manufacture users in differentiated work spaces equipped with comfortable designer furniture.
The Learning Centre is organised into three areas:
- a reception area with a reception point, automatic machines, a lounge, lockers and a training room;
- a central area forming a free table top with a central space dedicated to the collections, a silent work area with large tables and a "whispered" work area with more relaxed seating allowing for one or more people to work together;
- an area dedicated to co-working and group work made up of four rooms, each with its own furniture and atmosphere, a large modular space.
Teaching centre
The teaching area located on the ground floor takes advantage of the elevation of the Forges building in relation to its existing walls. The teaching rooms are therefore well lit. Inside, the wide central circulation is punctuated by the skylights on the first floor, and benefits from natural light through them. These openings also create visual links between levels and activities.
The teaching centre is composed of twenty thirty-seat classrooms (six of which are equipped with movable partitions, thus offering double rooms), two hundred-seat amphitheatres, a cartography room and two computer rooms.
An innovative teaching centre is located on the first floor, between the Agora and the Incubator. It has an open co-working space of over 200 m² and four co-working spaces.
