Tall & Urban News

A new office tower, Innova Tower, is being developed in Bordeaux, France. Architecture agency Hobo Architects is working in partnership with Bernard Bühler on the design of this building, which features unique construction methods and a distinctive building silhouette.

Pierre Cara, associate architect of Hobo Architects, explained the approach to constructing the tower, stating: “the problem we were presented with in 2011 was to design offices in a high-rise building IGH (Immeubles de Grand Hauteur) that are not subject to the regulations that typically pertain to these structures. This has proven to be a real challenge, since the Innova tower is 55 meters high. A residential tower can reach 50 meters in Bordeaux; but for offices, constraints are more stringent, limiting construction to 30 meters, except for IGHs,” continued the architect.

The solution was a mixed-use tower composed of two superimposed blocks that are slightly offset from one another—the lower of which will take up 6,000 square meters and feature a double-core circulation system, equipped with elevators and stairs. The residential portion will be placed above the building’s office portion, allowing the development to reach upwards of 18 stories. The project also boasts the use of modular construction techniques.

The base of the tower was made of prefabricated concrete panels. The stamped concrete includes sandwich insulation with dimensions ranging from 5–9 meters wide by three meters high. Delta supplied the factory-finished concrete.

“We included windows throughout the tower that seem to be distributed in a random way, integrating the building into its environment and playing on its urban scale,” the architects noted.

The housing units, largely in glass, all feature a double orientation and offer views over the future garden of Ars. A terrace separates the two blocks and offers a stunning view of the Garonne river. Modeled digitally, Innova is expected to deliver a digital global map of the Euratlantic.

For more on this story, go to Le Moniteur.