Palais de la Découverte - Paris - France

An innovative concept, product of a global approach:
To reinvent the Visitor Experience (VX) at the world's oldest scientific interpretation center, we deliberately challenged the confrontation between culture and 21st-century user design and the identity of an exceptional heritage building in Paris.
Science, source of inspiration and hybridization:
Because sciences develop a universal language, our project is inspired by their codes and draws on their resources to make a more sensitive VX. Hybridity, representative of today's scientific disciplines, is the active principle of our design process, the lever for meeting the programme’s sustainability and functionality objectives.
Visitors at the heart of the project:
We made the wonder of scientific culture a major key to initiating all audiences to scientific culture; just as we have banked on curiosity, which is essential to researchers and a sensitive motor for the appropriation of knowledge by the public.
Diffracted light, refracted sound
Sound and light are the raw materials of the scenographic project: their universal dimensions permeate us all. They can be found at the crossroads of all scientific disciplines... Together, they shape the new signature of the building and are a major VX feature.
A deliberately inclusive tour:
When it reopens, the Palais de la Découverte will be experienced by everyone as a place of reference and dialogue with the sciences, open to the world and their challenges in contemporary society. The VX offers a free, sensitive and intuitive tour, with an inclusive and collaborative approach, accessible to all.
Reversibility and frugality of all installations:
Our proposal is deliberately frugal in order to fit in with the historic building: we use design to engage in dialogue with heritage elements, ensuring that all the fittings are reversible. The aim is to provide comfort for visitors and staff (acoustic and climatic comfort, functional services).
A sustainable approach
Because the sciences serve sustainability, our project is exemplary. We aim to build as little as possible, and to use only environmentally-friendly materials (re-used or bio-sourced). 5% of the works budget is earmarked for an environmental programme to offset the development project's unavoidable carbon footprint.