An eCOmachine in Paris

By Ludovic Chambe Sustainable Development Projects at CBRE France
Mar 31, 2015 8:00 AM ET

Originally posted on CBRE's The Green Perspective Blog

The city of Paris is calling on innovative urban projects to transform its future with a competition aptly named Reinvent Paris.

As a result, 23 locations have been shortlisted throughout Paris as key destinations to start reinventing what the capital may look like in the future.

A team of real estate professionals at CBRE in association with the architects - Lina Ghotmeh-DGT - selected plot N2 located at the corner of av. de la Porte de Clichy and the ring road bd Périphérique. Chosen due to its position facing the city’s future Regional Court and its juxtaposition with great access to the rest of the city, CBRE has launched its concept: ‘eCOmachine’.

The rationale is that the eCOmachine will make ‘buildings like a living body’. To reflect the varied nature of life, the project’s architecture will be open planned, with plenty of connected and interactive space. The building’s inhabitants are encouraged to be eco-conscious and ‘at one’ with their environment.

The fundamentals underpinning the project are:

The e stands for Ecological/ Efficient/ circular Economy i.e. sustainability, to ensure:

  • Efficient eco-production.  The building will aim to be independent in its energy production (solar panels, roof wind turbines) and create space for urban agriculture, promoting the use of local produce and reducing “food miles” (the distance between grower and consumer)
  • A sustainable system.  To target the improvement of external air quality
  • A circular economy.  With communicating interfaces i.e. a smart building 
  • Eco-certification. To reduce the carbon footprint, reflected by the highest levels of certifications (HQE, BREEAM and LEED).

CO for Corps (‘Body’ in French)/ Comfort/ Co-Working/ Collaboration/ Coproduction/ Connectivity/ Communication, an eCOmachine that becomes:

  • A body. For the comfort of its users, minimising their exposure to sanitary risks while providing a real boost to productivity.
  • Connected. A social network application “eCOmapp” will permit individuals to utilise different spaces and areas of the building while maintaining contact
  • A place for “playful co-working”. Favoured breathing spaces and hybrid interior-exterior spaces, to reflect the diverse nature of the system.

eCOmachine which:

  • Is a true eco-mechanism. A connected place where one can work and exchange. 
  • A micro-ecosystem with a macro-impact. A positive, playful, open urban body that comes to life!
  • A productive, breathing, living structure. It is urban, public, visible, legible and sentimental. 

The eCOmachine will make it possible for us all to work in a multitude of different ways and we hope the judging panel selects the system to transform Paris.

For further information, please visit: http://www.reinventer.paris/en/ and for our French version please click here.
The partners for the project are: DGT Architectes / Marlène Ghorayeb -Professeur en Urbanisme / GRAU Architectes-Urbanistes / Bollinger & Grohmann / Living Architectures / Nathalie Junod-Ponsard / ADC Fever / Systematica  / EDC energy design cody / NewWind / Pur Project