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The idea for the Center originated from the University of Chicago’s vision to establish a vibrant hub for scholarship and cultural exchange in Paris’s emerging Rive Gauche neighborhood. Developed collaboratively with the city (SEMAPA) and the university’s administration, staff, and faculty, the compact urban site above an active railway inspired an innovative design. “The Center in Paris is designed as a vertical campus. Its multilevel atrium provides all the spaces with light and offers visual connections across programs,” said Jeanne Gang, Founding Partner of Studio Gang. “We wanted the building to amplify social interactions, scholarly collaborations, and cultural exchange between the University and the City of Paris.”
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The Center engages meaningfully with the evolving Paris Rive Gauche neighborhood by thoughtfully integrating into its urban fabric. Its locally sourced limestone façade connects visually and materially to Paris’s architectural history while echoing the University of Chicago’s campus identity. Outdoor spaces—including a shared courtyard, a loggia, and terraces—offer places for socializing, study, and rest, while also providing access to nature and habitat for urban wildlife.
A range of environmental strategies help to minimize the project’s carbon footprint and cultivate biodiversity, from outdoor spaces planted with regionally specific species to the use of mass timber for a large portion of the building’s structure. Sourced and fabricated in France and Austria, the timber structure also cuts down on carbon-intensive transport emissions. Similarly, the stone for the façade’s batons were sourced from a quarry only 25 miles (40 km) from the site. Increased air circulation and natural ventilation are facilitated by the building’s vertical design and abundant outdoor spaces. Photovoltaic panels on the roof generate clean energy and reduce reliance on the grid. The building will also connect to the district heating and cooling services for improved efficiency.
Built atop a compact site spanning an active railway, the architecture creates a gracious campus environment where intellectual work is enlivened by social activity and biodiverse habitat. The defining brise soleil façade, composed of approximately 900 cylindrical limestone batons, modulates light and privacy according to interior uses. The transparent central atrium—the “vertical campus”—links academic and social spaces, bringing daylight deep inside and encouraging interaction. The mass timber structure provides warmth, material expression, and significant carbon footprint reduction.
The Center includes classrooms, research labs, event spaces, and a biodiverse rooftop garden with panoramic views of Paris. A double-height event space on the top floor, adjacent to the rooftop garden, supports the Center’s role as a forum for intellectual exchange, offering an airy atmosphere and sweeping city views for conferences, cultural events, and social gatherings. An amphitheater can be configured for lectures, conferences, or large classes. Nearly tripling the size of the University’s former Paris facility, the Center expands study abroad programs and strengthens international academic partnerships.
Paul Alivisatos, President of the University of Chicago: "Expanding the physical capacity of the Center in Paris opens an exciting new chapter for the University of Chicago—and for the students and faculty who are drawn to learn and study there. The Center provides an important opportunity to deepen our scholarly connections, not only across France and Europe, but on a global scale, enriching the academic pursuits and collaborations that are central to our mission."
Founded and led by MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang, Studio Gang is an architecture and urban design practice based in Chicago, San Francisco, New York, and Paris. Driven by an ethos of “actionable idealism”, the Studio uses an iterative, research-based design process to create places that build stronger relationships among people, communities, and the natural world.
Studio Gang’s diverse portfolio ranges from cultural centers to strategic framework plans to high-rise towers. Notable among these are the reimagined Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock; the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership in Kalamazoo, Michigan; and the recently completed Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, which the New York Times called "a poetic, joyful, theatrical work of public architecture.”
