The 185 CDG underwent a comprehensive transformation of three office buildings, focusing on three major objectives: seamlessly integrating the architecture into its urban surroundings, reimagining the workspace experience, and creating a vibrant, healthy living environment. The architecture, interior architecture, and landscape were conceived as a unified, holistic design by the office.

At the core of the project is a commitment to environmental responsibility and human well-being, embodied in a design approach that fosters an omnipresent relationship with nature. The project elevates the concept of biophilia, recognizing the intrinsic human need for contact with the natural world. Biodiversity is not only preserved and enhanced, but embraced as an essential driver of physical and psychological health.

The site layout takes full advantage of the existing topography to create fluid, inviting connections between interior and exterior spaces. The buildings are organized around generous, protected gardens that serve as central living elements—providing a sensory and ecological anchor to daily life. The landscape and architectural masses share the same level, dissolving traditional boundaries between nature and the built environment.

Planted terraces and loggias at multiple levels sculpt the architectural form while offering cross-views and long perspectives for both office users and nearby residents. These elements promote light penetration and maximize solar exposure across the site, contributing to a luminous, open atmosphere.

A continuous internal street links the two main halls, shaping a sequence of dynamic volumes across two and three levels. This pathway fosters a scenographic experience enriched with visual transparencies and physical connections to the adjacent gardens and patios. Organic, pleated forms within the interiors extend the sense of the outdoors inward, reinforcing the building’s tactile and visual connection to the surrounding landscape.

Every workspace maintains a direct relationship with the gardens, enhancing comfort, productivity, and well-being. Three lushly planted patios bring natural light deep into the lower levels, reshaping communal spaces with openness and intimacy. Designed as cool refuges during warmer months, these shaded courtyards evoke the feeling of an undergrowth, with layers of pine, dogwood, and changing floral carpets that reflect the rhythm of the seasons. In spring, blues and whites bloom delicately, giving way to soft pinks, and then vibrant white hydrangeas in autumn.

On the first floor, outdoor rooms extend the garden concept into active working landscapes. These green terraces support both formal meetings and informal collaboration in the open air. Varying soil depths—ranging from 1m to 50cm—allow diverse and layered planting. Striped vegetation patterns introduce privacy and spatial variety, enabling multiple user groups to coexist without interference.

The design continues this seasonal dialogue on the upper and southern-facing patios, which benefit from optimal sunlight. A vibrant planting palette in yellows and oranges infuses energy from spring through fall. Ginkgo and Gleditsia trees, along with ornamental grasses, provide a spectacular autumnal display, while hardy flowering shrubs add color and vitality during the winter months.

A particularly original feature of the project lies in its edible landscapes. Fruit trees (apple, pear, cherry), berries (raspberries, blueberries, currants), and a dedicated vegetable garden encourage active engagement with the site and reinforce sustainability through urban agriculture. These “tasty terraces” provide harvests from summer into late autumn, inviting users to reconnect with natural cycles.

Through its thoughtful integration of architecture, landscape, and ecological sensitivity, the project offers a radical yet elegant response to contemporary challenges in workplace and urban design. It successfully shifts the paradigm from static office blocks to living, breathing environments—spaces where humans and nature are co-creators of experience and well-being. The result is a pioneering model of sustainable renovation, demonstrating how urban office environments can evolve into healthier, more humane, and ecologically vibrant places.

• Other credits:
The photographers: copyright Boegly Grazia – https://www.boegly-grazia.com/

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