CASCADING GREEN TERRACES

Echo, by architecture firm Coldefy, has been selected as the winning entry of a competition to build a new mixed-use building in Northern France. The project is to be constructed in Lille’s ‘Euralille’ district, an urban quarter masterplanned by OMA in 1989 that comprises the city’s main railway station. Titled ‘Echo’, Coldefy’s competition-winning scheme will provide office space alongside a catering and leisure program that includes a climbing club.

Externally, the development — which comprises 1,400 square meters of planted areas — is defined by its use of greenery. To be built using timber construction methods, Coldefy says that the project is the “first bio-based building in Euralille.” The design comprises two structures of different sizes with adjacent outdoor public spaces. The floorplates of each building reduce in size as they ascend, culminating in green roofs that cascade downwards across the outdoor spaces of each building.

In total, the two structures will contain 8,000 square meters of floor space, with nearly 40 percent devoted to hosting a predominantly catering and leisure program in the form of a large climbing room. Meanwhile, the office program will host the flex office brand Newton Offices. the larger of the two buildings will be ten storeys above ground, while the smaller structure comprising five floors. other projects designed by Coldefy include the world’s largest tropical greenhouse under a single dome and The National Pulse Memorial and Museum.

Images via designboom