Heritage conservation is no hindrance to sustainability-focused revitalisation. Ville L’Évêque, an office building in the heart of Paris’s 8th arrondissement, is proof of that. After the long-standing tenant moved out, Deka Immobilien hired the high-profile architecture firm Baumschlager Eberle to fully renovate the property. The plans called for preserving the listed façade while modernising technical equipment, completing energy-efficiency upgrades and adding space on each floor to give the building a fresh lease on life.
A variety of bespoke solutions that did not play a role when the property was built some 50 years ago were created for the new Ville L’Évêque.
User comfort was another high priority at the planning stage, alongside energy-efficient operation. The transparent new design of the entrance hall, with the two opposite entrances from Rue Ville L’Évêque and Rue de Surène, gave the building a visible facelift. Connecting the entrance hall with the green courtyard and the spacious public area on the roof terrace, as well as creating wooden structural elements in front of the courtyard façade and on the roof terrace, lends the building a unique quality. The wooden structure is both an eye-catching design element and a source of additional passive protection from the sun.
Measures at a glance
- Stripping the existing structure down to its shell and redesigning the entire property in line with the façade’s listed status, accessibility standards and labour law
- Creating roughly 500 sqm of additional office space
- Reconfiguring the entrance area to feature a modern, high-end lobby
- New pathways, signs and ceiling heights
- Redesigning the courtyard and creating a new green roof terrace, including a rainwater recovery system for watering green spaces on the roof and outside the building
- Designing and creating innovative and flexible office spaces and sanitary facilities, as well as multifunctional service spaces and meeting rooms
- Replacing lifts and technical building equipment (such as LED lighting, meters and building automation)
- Creating bicycle parking spaces in the basement, with showers and sanitary facilities for tenants, as well as electric vehicle charging stations in the underground car park
The result
The revitalisation of the outdated building in a prominent location demonstrates that renovation in line with both heritage conservation and sustainability works well.
- The outer shell of the building, the technology inside it and the surrounding infrastructure have received a contemporary “green” upgrade.
- As an HQE Excellent and BREEAM Very Good-certified building, Ville L’Evêque meets the highest standards in terms of functionality, sustainability and healthy indoor air quality.
- During the extensive revitalisation measures, the building, with a total of roughly 4,200 m2 of office space, was fully leased to the law offices of Simmons & Simmons.
At the end of 2024, Deka Immobilien sold the Ville l’Évêque office building in the central business district of Paris. More information.