The imagine foundation laboratoryNecker children's hospital, Paris  2010

Like a sculpture by Chillida, with a compact volume, perfectly adjusted to the plot of land on which it stands, the laboratory is built in an S-shape, offering generous public spaces as well as intimate areas for the researchers. The framework – which is covered on the street frontage with a thin skin of opalescent white ceramic, the interior being clad in a reflecting, perforated aluminium skin – uses a subtle contrasting play of materials.

The atrium at the heart of the Foundation diffuses natural light and constitutes an area for social contact and circulation that links to the city. Research work at the highest scientific and technological level that is normally very compartmentalised has been brought together in one place here and is expressed in the monumentality of the building.

Design Office Setec Batiment, Ceris Ingénierie, OASIIS (HQE) | Area 17 900 m2 SHON | Cost 45 M€ HT | Economist VOXOA