Ecotox is a unique research centre in Europe. Designed like a projects’hotel, it welcomes international teams for projects on environmental toxicology and long-term ecotoxicology.
With close proximity to the Valence TGV station, the Ecotox Centre is the first building constructed in the Rovaltain ecopark. The project’s aim is thus to offer a common identity for both the scientific community and the Rovaltain site.
The composition of the fa?ade on the scale of a building follows a sedimentation process similar to that of the Vercors massif. Each building applies the same system that links an external insulation ensuring high thermal performances, a coloured metal cladding of which the tones echo those found in the surrounding landscape and a system of louvre horizontal panels that protects one from solar radiation while integrating all the ventilation systems and that offers great flexibility in its implementation. The irregular distribution of the horizontal blades answers to the specific requirements and constraints of the premises (offices, laboratories, technical spaces etc.) and offers for the Ecotox centre a visual interpretation that is unique and rooted in its surrounding.
The only exception in the continuity of the panels, the tympanum of the entrance fa?ade is a curtain wall (structural glazing system), screen-printed and linked to supporting shell beams on four levels. Highly exposed to solar radiation, this fa?ade integrates a device of solar chimneys to ventilate in a natural way the conference room of 300 places.
On the garden side, pantograph openings let the fresh air enter from the garden while the hot air is evacuated to the roof through the solar chimney that is integrated in a fa?ade symbolising the Ecotox Centre showcase.In the continuation of the entrance court, and under the bleachers of the conference room, the entrance is a vast space without intermediary support points, completely open to the interior garden.
真正的交流和放松场所，在科学平台的十字路口，这个开放空间组织内部功能，并使中心的所有用户受益。
Real venue for exchanges and relaxation, at the crossroads of the scientific platforms, this open space organizes the internal functioning and benefits all the users of the centre.
