Symmetry is the Enemy

 The construction of a building dedicated to specialties related to endocrinology (metabolism, diabetology and nutrition) was the subject of a public-private partnership with Bouygues / Exprimm. This project brings together in one place the skills of the great names in this medical discipline. Consultations, laboratories, day hospital and teaching center are found over nine levels, including two basement levels, on the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital site.

Without logistical continuity but with the same volumetric dimensions as the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Épinière building, designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte, that it is built against, the new building by Michel Rémon combines compactness and internal living comfort.

 Playing with asymmetry, two verticals make up the main façade of the building. One is set on the ground and the other forms a "levitating" canopy above the hall. Located on the corner of the center, this spectacularly dynamic placement reveals the architect's intention: "It’s clear, [it] was designed starting from its hall."

The entrance can be seen immediately from the hospital's main arteries because it was to become its notable landmark, catching the eye due to the break it creates in a classical composition. It is also, according to Michel Rémon, because the patient’s reception is the first step in care. To soothe the internal atmosphere of this room – the patient’s first contact with the hospital - he lit it with a halo of natural light and brought life to it by the movement of a very beautiful spiral staircase leading to the therapeutic unit.

 "In the center of the site, a dual traffic path (general and services) optimizes the flows of visitors, patients and caregivers. It benefits from the light of the generously dimensioned internal courtyard."