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Dassault Aviation

The Dassault Aviation industrial campus in Mérignac is expanding to accommodate a new research centre.

As part of its "Leading our Future" transformation plan launched in 2016 by the aircraft manufacturer, Dassault Aviation's Industrial Site in Mérignac is being expanded to accommodate a new design, development and after-sales support centre for civil and defence activities.

This ambitious project aims to bring together onto one site all the teams working on an aircraft—from its design though to production and after-sales support. It is part of a redevelopment of the entire site, both in terms of landscape and functionality.

The existing landscaped park has been redesigned to connect the site's new facilities, which include a larger company restaurant, a 750-space multi-storey car park, and a building with changing rooms and bicycle parking facilities.
The park is a place for relaxation, but also for informal meetings that contribute to the "well-being at work" of employees. Connected to the north of the site, a short distance from the historic hangars where the Rafale and Falcon aircraft are still being built, the new premises cover nearly 26,000 square metres over four levels, with 1,500 workstations divided into 24 collaborative work spaces.

Client : Dassault
Location : Mérignac, France
Surface : 25 800 m²
Status : Delivered
Date : 2021
Key points
  • Command center.
  • Staff restaurant.
  • Production center.
  • Modular office space.
  • Virtual Reality Center.
  • Immersive Reality Center.
  • Auditorium.
Performance environnementale
  • Landscape integrated into the project.
  • RT 2012 -20%.
  • Maximum use of the building's thermal inertia.
  • Free cooling of the atrium
  • Solar panels on the multi-storey car park.
Download the project sheet

Médias

1/1
Jean-loup PATRIARCHE
01 / 01

Intentions

The elements of the programme, organised around a landscaped park, are evolving. A vast forecourt welcomes and connects the various pedestrian flows that enter the building or the heart of the campus. Based on the model of the Aquitaine forests, made up of pine trees, we proposed a plan based on an 18-metre grid.

This virtual “grid” is spread out over the whole of our intervention zone, and governs the landscape and plantations as well as the office building, the parking spaces and the social and restaurant areas. It allows the new building to be sewn into the existing site for complete integration.

Prioritise density to make room for a large landscaped park.

Flexible spaces around a central street

Inside, a street almost 130m long and 18m wide, crossing the building from east to west, is the backbone of the building. This space for exhibitions, information, events and exchanges distributes the various spaces arranged on either side like wings on the fuselage of an airplane.

On the south side of the ground floor, spaces open onto the park accommodate meeting rooms, VIP areas and a Command Center accessible via a service courtyard.

On the north side, more enclosed spaces include :

  • the conference room, an amphitheatre with an elegant ambience that can be used outside the secure enclosure if required.
  • the test benches, grouped into two sub-assemblies and served by dedicated corridors to separate military and civilian flows.
  • the data center, also located on this side of the building, sealed off from outside view.

On the upper floors, the street connects the office spaces via a series of walkways. All curved, they contrast with the rigor of the exterior lines.

Space planning focus - Workspaces

The 500m² workspaces are located on either side of the interior street, in a bright and pleasant atmosphere thanks to natural light from the roof, and to the south-facing patios overlooking the center of the campus and the airplanes.

On the street side, the corridors widen out from time to time to create floor lounges, informal spaces that encourage exchanges between employees.

On the patio side and on each level, there are modular spaces that allow teams working on the same project to gather in a dedicated area.

A bright, pleasant atmosphere for functional office spaces that encourage interaction.

These workspaces are located on the second floor, with a dominant light color scheme for comfort and brightness.
In contrast, the central area features dark floor and ceiling tones to encourage exchange and discussion.

Narrative Design

The interior is designed to reflect the Dassault Aviation brand image: sober, chic and evocative of the aeronautical world.

The ground floor is designed as a showroom where the reception lounges are laid out like airline lounges.

The work spaces, located on the upper floors, include modular collaborative spaces where furniture and technical equipment allow total flexibility for the teams.The spirit of the furniture is in the image of the famous Falcon, Dassault’s civil aircraft: chic, beautiful but not ostentatious.

The furniture selection includes pieces from Steelcase, Hawaorth, Kinnarpr’s, Koenig, mdd, inclass, Norman Copenhagen, Cider, Andreu World, Quinti, Treku...

The spaces are designed to allow total flexibility and to adapt to the innovations imagined by the Dassault teams.

Signage

Landscape

The walk in the heart of the Parc Forestier, in which the wood predominates, is animated by concrete plots. Sometimes planted with trees, sometimes open, these rest and meeting areas are decorated with custom-made furniture encouraging relaxation or reading.

They are made up of large sculptural elements in concrete and wood. These same elements are also placed in the forest, when the trees give way to open, luminous and more intimate clearings.

Our aim was to link the project with its rich context, to bring the plant material into the heart of the site with a constant concern for continuity and landscape integration.

Team

Patriarche group

Patriarche (Architecture, Interior Architecture, MEP Engineering, Cost, Signage)

Partners:

Tecta
Cuisinorme
IdB
Félix & Associés
CMA

Credits:

Photos: ©Romuald Nicolas

Programme

Graphic
Industrial
Offices
R&D-Labs