Timber office design banks on local materials

Project: Timber office building of bank CEBFC 

Award: Wood in Architecture, Gold, 2022

Location: Dijon, Burgundy, France

Architect: GRAAM

Client: Caisse d’Epargne

Featuring a wooden structural skeleton, prefabricated concrete floors and an external glass double skin, the new headquarters for Caisse d’Epargne bank have been designed to flood the offices and meeting rooms with natural light. The spacing of wooden columns allows for each floor to easily be subdivided to create working areas for specific departments. The seven-storey building is set on a slope and on a clear day you can spot the peak of Mont Blanc rises in the distance. Depending on the weather the building’s glazed skin exposes the wooden mesh or reflects the stunning landscape, making the building seem to disappear. 

Design highlights 

The building prioritizes sustainability, being built to a high thermal Passivhaus standard, which means it uses no more than 15 kWh per m2 per year. It is also constructed from materials sourced locally - the Burgundy region is known for its hardwood and softwood forests, while the concrete elements were prefabricated before being brought to the site. A series of narrow steel white columns support the building's outer structure to create a sheltered area surrounding the perimeter of the building that extends onto a terrace.

Photo credit: Nicolas Waltefaugle