The tallest wooden structure office building in France (35m) will emerge from the ground in the Eco-Vallée in Nice Méridia

Called Palazzo Méridia, this wooden structure office building, the tallest in France (R + 9, 35 meters) will be delivered in the 1st quarter of 2018 after 12 months of work. This iconic building, with slender architecture, translates the ambition of eco-exemplarity, innovation and architectural quality desired by the Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolis and promoted by the EPA Eco-Vallée Plaine du Var in the development of the Plaine du Var, Operation of National Interest.

The international jury was made up of the architects Dietmar Feichtinger (Upper Austrian wooden construction prize for the Groupe Scolaire de Taufkirchen in 2009 and Best Office Award for the Voestalpine Linz management center in 2010) and Marc Mimram (distinguished by the Eiffel Trophy Steel Architecture for the National School of Architecture of Strasbourg in 2015), Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon and representatives of the EPA Eco-Vallée Plaine du Var and the Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolis.

On strategic land, at the corner of the new Simone Veil avenue and the future course of the University, adjoining the Mediterranean Institute for Risk and Sustainable Development (IMREDD), “The Palazzo Méridia is an additional activator for the development of Nice Méridia, an urban technopole designed to accommodate businesses, housing, services, trade, in an approach of mixed functions and uses that is still unprecedented on such a scale. It will be the first positive energy building in Eco-Vallée! It is a global investment of more than 23 M € HT which is injected into the local economy, with a capacity of reception of more than 500 jobs. It will host the head office and R&D of a health laboratory covering more than 3000 m², offices and shops ” underlines Christian Estrosi, President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region, President of the Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolitan Area.

Palazzo Méridia pushes the ambition of sustainable development far…

“We have opted for constructive solutions using wood (CLT walls and floors, glued laminated wood beams) in order to be part of the emerging issues of gray energy and carbon content by demonstrating innovation and of exemplarity ” explains Stéphane Bouquet, Director of Nexity Ywood.

Beyond its energy and architectural qualities, this construction, which will require 900 tonnes of wood of French origin, will energize and perpetuate the regional and national wood industry.

The Palazzo Méridia will be connected to the Smart Grid set up across the entire science park. It will be connected to the geothermal loop of temperate water of the ZAC allowing the production of hot and cold necessary for the building. In this logic of cost optimization, Nexity worked closely with EDF and Dalkia to equip the roof of around 500 m2 with photovoltaic panels which will be manufactured in France.

Labeled BEPOS Effinergie, the building will reach the Silver level of the Sustainable Mediterranean Buildings approach and will meet a level of requirement higher than the maximum level of the Biosourced label. Support is provided during the operational phase towards Breeam In Use certification. The project was selected by ADEME as part of its MANAG'R air quality competition.

It is an original partnership project, based on "collective intelligence" which, in addition to EDF, Dalkia, BG, Elioth, a subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts and QCS Services has involved from its conception the Mediterranean Institute for Risk and Development Sustainable (IMREDD) as well as ADIV'BOIS, pilot of the wood industry plan of the new industrial France.

The design of the building is also sustainable in that it provides for possible reversibility of these offices into housing, attesting to the long-term vision of the projects carried out on the territory of the Eco-Valley.

… And sends an urban and architectural signal signed Architecture-Studio, with the help of Tangram paysagiste

After the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the National Theater of Al-Manama in Bahrain… the architects of Architecture-Studio, who pay constant attention to the development of new uses and the ecological city, have designed a building that marries the philosophy of the district with Mediterranean architecture.

The metal exoskeleton of the building, like a screen, supports the vertical circulations located on the periphery, its outer skin is a tree structure which rises towards the sky. The openwork base makes it possible to create a direct link with the urban life of Nice Méridia. The double facade accompanies the development of continuous balconies in front of a line of offices, offering both outdoor workplaces and gardens. The terraces have been imagined as "third places", open and mixed, conducive to new uses in the way of working, exchanging, sharing, meeting.

“It's about inventing new uses in the way of working, exchanging, sharing, meeting. The openwork base makes it possible to create a direct link with the city and the urban life of the district ” says Marc Lehmann, associate architect of Architecture-Studio.

Wood is predominant in the interior design, which is open thanks to large trays offering the possibility of circulation and multiple layouts.

For Christian Tordo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the EPA Eco-Vallée Plaine du Var, “This building is emblematic of Nice Méridia. It foreshadows what the EPA aims to achieve on the scale of the Eco-Valley: creating exemplary buildings, organizing human travel, developing energy autonomy and embodying the smart city of the future. It is a question of improving the daily life of the inhabitants, the employees, the users by also proposing an architectural identity of Nice and Mediterranean ”.

Nice Méridia, urban technopole, is a concept imagined by the urban planner architect Christian Devillers. It combines the specific advantages of a technopole and those of an urban setting where everything is accessible. A high-quality urban space, based on a functional, social and generational mix, Nice Méridia is destined to become one of the engines of innovation and economic development in the territory. Nice Méridia covers 24 hectares and, together with Grand Arénas, La Baronne and the Saint-Martin du Var eco-neighborhood, are the four major current projects carried out by the EPA Eco-Vallée Plaine du Var.

www.nexity.fr

www.nicecotedazur.org