Les Grands Moulins de Paris

The ten-storey building therefore reflects the lines of the Grands Moulins de Paris, from the alignment of the façades to the dimensions of the roof, which boasts dormer windows. In order to anchor the building even more in its environment, the architects clad it in terracotta: "Our main design concept was to reinterpret the codes of neo-Flemish architecture." How did they do it? The designers chose the hand-moulded Thermoreal-Gebrik in a red-brown hue for "its materiality as well as its colours, which were true to those of the original site.”
Textured and warm, as if shaped by human hands, Thermoreal-Gebrik really enchanted the team with its aesthetic qualities. It was not just that, however. With a passive construction objective, the designers also opted for this material thanks to its insulating properties. The result was that the building was granted "Passiv’haus" status. This demanding German energy performance label guarantees that buildings have very low energy consumption, and are even able to stay warm without conventional heating. It won the top prize at the Passibat show, too. Far from creating a new page in the history books, TRANSITION brilliantly explores the corridors of time. It is a perfect expression of how to combine the beauty of the past with the innovations of the present.