d+a | Issue 126 • 2022

38 design and architecture #126 commercial a grand, transparent facade As Michelin wanted to convey a message of openness and honesty, the architects let the theme of transparency guide their decisions for the building’s design, and in particular, its façade. The Canopy was built over just two levels of the existing building, so it does not conceal any of the historic features of the original build. According to Delon, this responded to the Michelin group’s desire to renew itself without denying the company’s secular presence on this site. Themes of transparency, openness and honesty are conveyed in the building’s façade design. location Place des Carmes – Clermont-Ferrand building area 11 000 sqm year of completion 2021 architect/design firm Encore Heureux Architectes lead architect/ designer Romain Léal / Nicola Delon developer MPF Michelin contractor/builder Encore Heureux Architectes + Construire landscape architect Base designer furniture brands AAG sanitaryware brands Axima / Aquasol that complements the existing building. And at the same time, integrating an existing tropical glasshouse into the programme. The new reception area now includes 11,000 sqm of exhibitions spaces, offices and meeting rooms, a café that caters to both Michelin employees and the public, and shopping areas. The project’s namesake comes from its tropical glasshouse, which was repurposed as a green courtyard-like enclosure with plant species that grow in parts of the world where rubber is cultivated. The façade of this glasshouse displays the Michelin logo. “The brief called for a rethinking of the building’s openness towards the city while modernising the headquarters,” says Nicola Delon, one of Encore Heureux’s two founding partners. The Encore Heureux team came up with a programmatic intervention that included a new reception area, an entrance forecourt, a public square, an auditorium, a new company restaurant, parking facilities, as well as the renovation of the landscaping of the Michelin Campus’ – 15 or so hectares of land composed of several buildings organised around outdoor circuits.