Hexagons Balard

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Aerial view of the central building

The Hexagone Balard , or Balardgone for short , called the Balard Project (French: Projet Balard ) during the planning and construction phase , is an ensemble of buildings in Paris . It houses the French Ministry of Defense . Construction began in 2012; the complex was inaugurated in 2015. It offers space for 9,300 employees.

Building history and background

The complex was planned as the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense to house services that were spread across 12 locations in Paris before Balardgone was built. The new building was to accommodate all essential parts of the ministry, including the joint general staff , the general staffs of the army , navy and air force , as well as the operational command (CPCO, French Center de planification et de conduite des opérations ) and the national armaments authority (DGA, Délégation générale pour l'armement ). Until then, the three branches of the armed forces had their headquarters in different places in the capital: the air force was already in the Balard district, i.e. H. On the area of ​​the new complex, housed in the Cité de l'Air built in the 1930s for the then Aviation Ministry , the General Staff of the Navy in the Hôtel de la Marine and the army in the Îlot Saint-Germain .

The site is located in the 15th arrondissement of Paris in the southwest of the city, near the Pont du Garigliano bridge over the Seine . It is located at the Balard metro station and directly on the Boulevard périphérique , the Parisian motorway ring , from which it is bounded to the south. To the north, it borders on the Boulevards des Maréchaux (at this point Boulevard du Général-Martial-Valin and Boulevard Victor ), on which line 3 of the Paris tram runs. The Pont du Garigliano station on the RER C light rail line , the Parc des expositions exhibition center in Paris and the Issy-les-Moulineaux heliport are also in the vicinity .

The ensemble comprises three plots totaling around 16.5 hectares, two to the west of the avenue de la Porte de Sèvres - the Corne Ouest to the west , followed by the Parcelle Valin to the east - and one to the east, the Parcelle Victor , i. H. the historic Cité de l'Air . The buildings in the western section were demolished in December 2010, with the exception of a monument from the 1930s. Also known as the Laboratoire de la Marine , this building by Auguste and Gustave Perret has been renovated and is part of the complex. The Cité de l'Air buildings were also renovated , including two high-rise buildings from the 1970s called Tour A and Tour F, which in the past had already housed the armaments agency, as well as several used by the Air Force in the 1930s for the then the Ministry of Aviation erected buildings.

The complex offers a total of 280,000 m², including 145,000 m² in new and 135,000 m² in renovated buildings, with space for 9,300 employees. There is also a hairdressing salon, a sports center with fitness room and swimming pool, three day nurseries, a fire station for the Paris fire brigade and a guest house with 900 rooms.

In centralized France it is common for the presidents to set a monument for themselves through a large project in Paris. With Georges Pompidou it was the Center Georges Pompidou , with François Mitterrand the National Library and the Grande Arche , with Jacques Chirac the Ethnographic Museum . In this tradition, Nicolas Sarkozy planned a "pharaonic" new building for the Ministry of Defense, the largest new building since the establishment of the national library.

The project was officially started in 2007 by the then Defense Minister Hervé Morin . The contract was awarded to the Bouygues group following a tender . The architect Nicolas Michelin and his office ANMA were responsible for the central part, the “hexagon” . Other architects and architectural offices involved were Jean-Michel Wilmotte for Corne Ouest and Atelier 2/3/4 for the renovation of the Cité de l'Air . Michelin's design prevailed against the designs by Dominique Perrault and Norman Foster , which had been brought in by the Vinci and Eiffage companies .

Michelin's model of the structure was presented in 2011. Construction work began in 2012. In July 2015, 4,000 employees had moved in. On November 5, 2015, the complex was officially inaugurated by President François Hollande . However, the Defense Minister himself announced that he would continue to be based in the Hôtel de Brienne in the 7th arrondissement near the Hôtel Matignon and the Elysée Palace , i.e. H. the seats of the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic.

The construction costs amounted to 1.2 billion euros . Together with operating and rental costs, the contract volume for the construction amounted to 3.5 billion euros. The project arose as a public-private partnership ( public-private partnership , PPP), so that the French State the construction group Bouygues over 30 years pays a rent. The annual rent is 154 million euros; the property then becomes the property of the state. The Ministry of Defense countered criticism of the high rent with the argument that the rent corresponded to the operating costs of the 12 previous locations. According to the ministry, their renovation would have cost 600 to 700 million euros, whereas the construction of Balardgone will make it possible to sell the sites and generate income for the state.

After the weekly Le Canard enchaîné published allegations of corruption in relation to the award of contracts in 2011, three investigations were initiated, including against a person responsible at Bouygues and an army officer. It was also criticized that the contract had been awarded to a company whose owner Martin Bouygues was a personal friend of President Sarkozy, who had repeatedly made decisions that benefited Bouygues and his corporate empire. The process started in late January 2020; The public prosecutor's office demanded several years' imprisonment combined with six-figure fines against the accused.

Building description

Floor plan and naming

The central building, which was rebuilt from 2012 to 2015 and from which the ensemble owes its name, has an approximately rectangular floor plan. The fact that it still looks like a " hexagon " (hexagons) is due to the floor plan of its inner building wings, which contain two nested hexagons. This is understood by the public as a double allusion, on the one hand to the common designation of metropolitan France as "hexagon" because of its shape on the map, and thus as a patriotic symbol, and on the other to the Pentagon , the headquarters of the US Department of Defense. The building was therefore also referred to in the press as “  Pentagone à la française  ” (“Pentagon in French style”).

Facades

Main entrance (December 2015)

The angular construction of the facade and roof, dominated by flat surfaces, is reminiscent of the stealth shape of modern warships and military aircraft . A monumental, simple, glazed main entrance dominates the north facade facing the Boulevard du Général-Martial-Valin . It is set back from the flight of the facade; the facade surrounding it is black. While, according to the chief architect Nicolas Michelin, the entrance is “highly symbolic” and “a synonym for a Ministry of Peace”, a journalist for the daily Le Figaro wrote after a tour of the construction site that as a visitor one had the impression of “entering a bunker”. Most of the rest of the street facades are kept in different shades of white with dark ribbon windows .

The inner wings of the building stand on stilts. Their facades are adorned with a checkerboard pattern in irregular colors of green and blue, the colors of the army. The closely spaced wings of the building awakened associations with prison architecture in some visitors during the construction phase. At this point, however, the interior of the building was not yet green .

The 45 m high building has a total of 87,200 m² of facade area. The roof and roof terraces have a total area of ​​22,710 m². The building offers 140,000 m² of office space.

Energy efficiency

During construction, emphasis was placed on optimizing the building's energy efficiency. An air conditioning system does not exist; instead, the buildings are cooled by running water flowing through the ceilings. Ventilation is provided by fresh air that is drawn from the inner courtyards. Solar cells with an area of ​​5000 m² are installed on the roof . According to the ministry, 80% of the building is self-sufficient for heating and cooling.

Historic Perret building and parade ground

Perret building (Laboratoire de la Marine) before renovation (2012)

A historic building in the north-east of the new building on Parcelle Valin was renovated and became part of the complex. Also known as the Laboratoire de la Marine , the listed building was built between 1929 and 1932 by Auguste and Gustave Perret . It is a reinforced concrete structure with a U-shaped floor plan. In 1960 a fourth floor was added. It once housed offices and laboratories of the technical services for shipbuilding of the French Navy. The Perret building delimits Parcelle Valin to the northeast from Avenue de la Porte de Sèvres and Boulevard Victor . In the new ensemble it encloses a parade ground.

Web links

Commons : Hexagone Balard  - collection of images, videos and audio files

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ a b c d Visite guidée du “Pentagone à la française”. In: challenges.fr. July 11, 2015, accessed on March 29, 2020 (French).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Christophe Josset: Visitez l'Hexagone-Balard, le nouveau “Pentagone français”. In: lexpress.fr . November 6, 2015, accessed on March 29, 2020 (French).
  3. ↑ See also map entry : Parcelle Valin  on OpenStreetMap .
  4. ↑ See also map entry : Parcelle Victor  on OpenStreetMap .
  5. ↑ a b Laboratoire de la Marine in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g Béatrice de Rochebouët: “Pentagone à la française”: visite d'un chantier secret defense. In: lefigaro.fr . January 21, 2014, accessed March 29, 2020 (French).
  7. ^ Frédérique Schneider: L'Hexagone-Balard, le nouveau ministère de la defense. In: la-croix.com . November 5, 2015, accessed March 30, 2020 (French).
  8. ↑ a b Frédéric Edelmann: Bouygues choisi pour construire le ministère de la defense a Balard. In: lemonde.fr. February 17, 2011, accessed on March 29, 2020 (French).
  9. ↑ a b Attribution du marché du “Pentagone français”. 4 ans de prison requis et 200 000 € d'amende. In: ouest-france.fr . February 3, 2020, accessed on March 29, 2020 (French).
  10. ↑ Friendship Services . In: Der Spiegel . No. 50 , 2011, p. 100 ( online ).
  11. ↑ See also map entry: Hexagone Balard  on OpenStreetMap .
  12. ↑ See also map entry: Perret-Bau (Laboratoire de la Marine)  on OpenStreetMap .

Coordinates: 48 ° 50 ′ 8 ″  N , 2 ° 16 ′ 34 ″  E