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communication [at] universite-paris-saclay.fr (Communication Université Paris-Saclay)

Université Paris-Saclay’s Learning Center project gets underway

Université Paris-Saclay's Learning center
Beaudouin Architectes (Emmanuelle and Laurent Beaudouin), in association with MGM Arquitectos (Morales de Giles Arquitectos), has won the architectural competition for Université Paris-Saclay's Learning Center, scheduled to open its doors in 2020.

The Learning Center is a flagship project for Université Paris-Saclay, which commissioned the building, and the urban planning and development authority EPA Paris-Saclay, which is overseeing the construction project. The Center is to be built on the Paris-Saclay urban campus in the heart of the Moulon district in Gif-sur-Yvette.

The Learning Center—at once a library, an outreach venue and a collaborative workspace, with a surface area of approximately 10,000 m²—will encourage exchanges between students, faculty, entrepreneurs and the residents of the plateau. It will offer books and journals from the collections of CentraleSupélec, ENS Paris-Saclay and Université Paris-Sud. Facilities will be arranged to suit different ways of working.

A forum and a public auditorium will host meetings, exhibitions, displays, symposiums, debates and seminars to help spread the spirit of innovation that characterizes the Paris-Saclay region. Around 30 collaborative workrooms, an open space, a relaxation area, a brasserie and a patio will also be accessible to all Université Paris-Saclay students, faculty and entrepreneurs.

Designed to be open, welcoming, and comfortable, this modern building will house :

  • a wide-ranging print collection and digital content both about the academic and research activities of Paris-Saclay and for all user communities, activities in pursuit of technological, educational and cultural innovation
  • diagonale Paris-Saclay, the University's "science and society" unit, cutting-edge services and facilities to foster cooperation between all streams of knowledge.

The Learning Center will be located close to Université Paris-Saclay's current headquarters, a few hundred meters from Ecole CentraleSupélec, Université Paris-Sud and Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay. The future building will be served by public transport: opposite the Orsay/Gif metro station in 2024, and right next to a bus rapid transit station connecting Massy to Saint-Quentin from 2016.

According to Julien Sempéré, the project manager for UPSaclay's Learning Center, "the plan for the Université Paris-Saclay Learning Center was designed collectively to facilitate understanding of the academic and digital world and make it a place that stands for the openness, creativity and sharing of resources and knowledge at work here."