PROJECT DETAILS
The Context: An Ambitious Environmental and Architectural Project
Ten years after opening its Paris campus, Grenoble École de Management (GEM) was facing a growing demand from students, particularly international ones. Unable to expand its premises in the 16th arrondissement, the eighth-ranked French business school — with over 7,000 students, including 6,000 in Grenoble — invested in a new building in Pantin, at the gateway to the new “Newport Pantin” development zone, opposite the Canal de l’Ourcq.
This project was ambitious on all fronts — especially in terms of architecture and sustainability — in line with GEM’s mission-driven status. Designed by the architectural firm ChartierDalix with PRD Office, the building was delivered in spring 2023. It features a timber structure arranged around a central, open void, offering a “warm and flexible environment” behind a largely glazed façade whose “clean lines allow the building to integrate seamlessly into its surroundings and stand the test of time.” Mission accomplished.
Certified E3C1 and awarded the BiodiverCity label, the building — named WoodE — received the 2023 SIMI Grand Prix in the category for New Office Buildings under 10,000 m².
The Challenges: Sustainability and Performance
Designed as a teaching tool in its own right, the 5,800 m² facility spans six floors and includes around twenty classrooms for both in-person and virtual learning, a 300-seat auditorium, a cafeteria, meeting rooms, collaborative workspaces, and a Wellness Centre — all crowned by a vast green rooftop terrace.
Beyond the pedagogical ambition — with flexible, modular spaces organised around circulation areas designed as social hubs of student life — the project focused on long-term durability, and in particular, adaptability. A load-bearing façade was developed to free up internal floorplates, while large full-height glazed openings provide generous natural light and user comfort.
Given the building’s low-carbon timber construction, the façades had to be not only exemplary in terms of carbon footprint, but also deliver high energy efficiency and — a key feature of this project — outstanding acoustic performance. These challenges were met by WICONA aluminium joinery systems, designed, manufactured, and installed by the company E2MK.
WICONA Solutions: Aesthetic and Technical Responses
For this fully timber-constructed project, the choice of WICONA curtain wall systems — covering 900 m² — and 2,000 m² of WICLINE 75 evo window frames made it possible to reconcile the dual demands of maximum transparency and high performance. Despite their XXL dimensions and variety of formats, the slim aluminium profiles and the use of concealed sashes enhance the elegance of the architectural design while optimising interior comfort, thanks to the solar factor and light transmission properties of the joinery.
While fulfilling the aesthetic requirement for transparency, both WICONA systems also deliver the high thermal performance levels required by the project, including the integration of particularly heavy glazing units. For the façade facing a noisy departmental road, triple-glazed frames were used to meet the acoustic attenuation requirement of 44 dB.
In response to the technical challenges identified early in the project, “we worked hand in hand with WICONA and the façade engineering firm Arcora,” explains Philippe Pierron, Chief Operating Officer at E2MK’s head office. “The teams were highly responsive during both the design and delivery phases,” adds Marco Rodrigues Pereira, Production Director at GCC Pôle Construction/Île-de-France. Over a year after completion, “this project remains a very positive experience.”
