New Time

Neuilly-sur-Seine, France

Photo © Alexandre Soria

Bâtiments de bureaux

Architectes: KCAP Zürich

Lieu: Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Année: 2014
Client: Züblin Immobilière France
Program: 17.000 m2 existing office building renovation and expansion
Role: Architect
Participating parties: Cap Terre, Versailles; Deerns, Rijswijk; Nobu Nakanishi

New Time is located on an extraordinary location: on Ile de la Jatte in Neuilly-sur-Seine. It is the head of a Seine island, a green setting surrounded by water on two sides and facing the main entrance of a large sports area. This spot houses the former office building of Laboratoires Roche, a design by Swiss architect Roland Rohn in 1969-71.

The concept includes reuse of characteristic elements to a maximum extend and to preserve the atmosphere which emanates from this fine and purely designed building of the 1970’s. With this upgrade, the facades, installations and spatial flexibility meet present day sustainability and efficiency standards to transform the Roland Rohn’s building into a representative and well performing contemporary working environment. The design concept adds lateral extensions to each of the existing wings. This creates a volumetric play in which each of the four volumes faces a different direction. The differentiated volumes are grouped around a central core. The highly flexibile organisational structure allows for classical office layouts and open work landscapes to facilitate multi-tenant concepts. The concept reflects the green environment in various ways: through green patios and voids on the inside and the green roofs on the outside. All interventions are done with great respect for the qualities of the building - its transparency, design of the façade and the finishing of the interiors. The details of the curtain walls, the woodwork of the partition walls, the natural stone at the ground floor - all these elements generate a certain charm and luxury, without lapsing into ostentation or exuberance.