Messager

The Messager project is the flagship of the new Messageries district, set to emerge near Gare de Lyon, one of the most ambitious urban redevelopment operations in the capital initiated by Espaces Ferroviaires, the urban planning and real estate development subsidiary of SNCF.

With an ambitious environmental specification, Franklin Azzi made Messager a plea for a different, sustainable, timeless, and desirable architecture. The approach is to focus on durability—with a heavy wood/stone frame—and reversibility—with smart cores and a depth limited to 14 meters to enhance light. A building designed to last but also to evolve indefinitely.