Chicago-based architecture practice Studio Gang has unveiled design for a new academic building for the University of Chicago in Paris, France. The new building will be a new hub for education, research and scholarly engagement across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The project will double UChicago’s space in Paris and replace the University’s existing Center, which has experienced tremendous growth in interest and programming since opening in 2003. The building is scheduled to be opened in 2022. 

Image © Paris Render with ICADE and Studio Gang

The Center in Paris was UChicago’s first global facility, creating a model for engagement around the world that now includes the University centers in Delhi, Beijing and, most recently, Hong Kong, where The Hong Kong Jockey Club University of Chicago Academic Complex | The University of Chicago Francis and Rose Yuen Campus in Hong Kong opened in November.

Studio Gang proposed a compact building that features vertically-articulated stone façade selectively opens and closes, revealing public activities while densifying around more private spaces for study and research.

Image © Paris Render with ICADE and Studio Gang

For this project, Studio Gang will work with PARC Architectes, a Parisian architectural firm. The expansion project is a collaboration between SEMAPA, real estate developer Icade, and the University. 

The project, covering greater than 9,400 square meters, will be located on the Rue des Grands Moulins and Avenue de France in an area that has become an international hub of research and higher education.

Image © Paris Render with ICADE and Studio Gang

The project is comprised of two interlinking parts: the new UChicago Center in Paris and a mixed-use development not owned or operated by the University. The two parts will be housed in separate buildings connected through shared outdoor space.

"To support a lively dialogue between the University and greater communities, spaces shared with the public are strategically located and connected to the outdoors to invite mixing. University spaces are organized into a vertical campus whose classrooms wrap around a central, daylit interior that culminates in a biodiverse roof garden," said Studio Gang describing the project. 

"Public art as well as a visual and material interplay between the buildings evoke the warp and weft of a textile. Lush outdoor green spaces atop and between the structures provide places for socializing, study, and rest as well as habitat for urban wildlife."

Image © Paris Render with ICADE and Studio Gang

New, biodiverse green spaces, public art, and the visual and material dialogue between the buildings will invite mixing between the University and greater communities while weaving together the site and its context both physically and intellectually.

Image © Paris Render with ICADE and Studio Gang

"We are very excited to work in the great city of Paris and to collaborate with the prestigious University of Chicago on the Paris Center," said Jeanne Gang. 

"Building upon the mission of the Center as a place of dialogue and exchange, our project is designed to encourage meaningful connections between the faculty, students and Parisians and to create a new kind of vitality in this growing neighborhood in the 13th arrondissement. I look forward to working with Icade, PARC Architectes and the city of Paris to realize this new addition to the life of the city."

Image © Studio Gang, ICADE, and PARC Architecture

The residential part of the building includes balconies and they extend the living spaces into the city and lend it a fine-grained, horizontal texture. The design's environmental strategies minimize carbon footprint and optimize energy performance.

Top image © Paris Render with ICADE and Studio Gang

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