Centre Pierre-Mendès-France, Contemporary educational architecture in 13th arrondissement, France.
The Centre Pierre-Mendès-France is a modern university building with three towers reaching up to 22 floors arranged around a central concrete core. The smoked glass facades and suspended cubic spaces containing offices and classrooms define the structure's appearance.
The building opened in 1973 as part of university reforms launched after the 1968 student movements. It received its current name in 1983 in honor of economist and politician Pierre Mendès France.
The center serves as a learning hub for thousands of students at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University who attend lectures and seminars in its spaces. It has become woven into the daily rhythm of student life in this neighborhood.
Visitors will find multiple lecture halls in the basement levels and elevators in the central core to navigate the building. The triangular plot shapes how people move around and enter the structure.
The suspended cubic modules hanging from the central concrete core create an unusual interior where offices and classrooms float without intermediate columns. This construction method allows open, flowing spaces that would have been impossible with traditional support systems.
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