This cluster of offices in northern France are raised above the ground like treehouses, supported by a forest of roughly sawn wooden columns.
Designed by Paris studio Projectiles as an extension to a carpenter's workshop, the string of buildings is sandwiched between two existing warehouses and creates a bridge between them.
Bridges also connect the blocks to each other, while an external staircase provides a link between the offices and a picnic area below.
One of the six blocks steps down to ground level to serve as an entrance lobby, containing a second staircase crafted entirely from square-cut wooden beams.
If treehouses are your thing then see all our stories about them here.
Photography is by Vincent Fillon.
Here's some more information from Projectiles:
Branched Offices
Épône, 78
In May 2009, the agency Projectiles was contacted by MD, a carpenter quite unlike any other.
Art collector, passionate about sailing boats, he entrusted Reza Azard, Hervé Bouttet and Daniel Mészàros with the creation of an office complex as an extension to his workshop.
At the time, two warehouses of 1,500 square metres were situated twenty metres apart. The back of the parcel was free.
The extension that the three men proposed is introduced between the two existing volumes within the authorised outline limitation, joins with the two warehouses and branches out towards the far end of the parcel.
The different volumes, perched four metres on top of roughly-hewn beams, are placed freely within the authorised limitation. They are connected by interior footbridges.
The construction is entirely built in wood,including the framework. The carpentry consists of a unique window dimension, sometimes fixed, sometimes opening.
The complex is immersed in an arboretum made up of twenty trees of a dozen different species, offering blossom throughout the year. This architecture introduced into the heart of an ordinary industrial estate, represents a veritable heterotopia.
Client:
Séquoia Company
Woodwork - Layout
Architects:
Projectiles, architects
Reza Azard – Hervé Bouttet – Daniel Mészáros
Serge Titier, économist
EVP, structures consultants
Surface: 450 m2
Budget: 840 000 € (excl. tax)
Schedule:
Study may 2009 – june 2010
Construction site july 2010 – may 2011
Completion summer 2011