Institut Mines-Télécom / Grafton Architects

The building is organised around six spaces: the garden, four external courtyards and the ‘Rue intérieure’ which connects the other spaces and the entrance to form a 'social heart' for the institute. Between the compressed western half of the building and the open garden spans a library ‘bridge’ which connects the community of scholars, professors, and staff with a series of interlocking halls, reading rooms and loggias spaces. The outer form of the block is held by the 800 offices with a fine-grained structure, sitting above the larger laboratories and amphitheatres below which have greater spans. At ground level the structure is as open as possible so the public spaces and garden can flow together to form a continuous civic landscape.