Project Presentation
Located on the former industrial brownfield site of the Presqu'île de Grenoble, the WOOD project represents a major breakthrough in sustainable urban architecture for the commercial sector.
As Grenoble's first office building constructed mainly from timber, it is part of an ambitious recycling project led by VINCI Immobilier and meets the goal of zero new land development by 2030. The building has a total floor area of 6,081 m² (65,455 ft²) spread over six stories with flexible spaces that promote mixed use and user comfort.
The project includes greening elements with planters and terraces on each floor, a groundwater geothermal system and a rooftop photovoltaic installation. It aims to achieve high environmental performance with an E3C2+77% certification target, six years ahead of the 2030 environmental regulations.
Technical Details
The building structure is based on a composite timber-concrete system consisting of two separate blocks treated independently from a structural point of view.
The ‘’‘WEST block’‘’ is a self-supporting timber superstructure with bracing provided by diagonal members arranged between rows of columns spaced at 5.4 m (17.7 ft) and on the facades. This arrangement allows for horizontal transfer of forces to the top of the building while limiting the stresses in the end columns due to effective decoupling between rows A and B.
The “EAST block” rests partially on a tree-like structure made of French Douglas fir laminated timber with triangular columns called “trees” that transfer the vertical loads. The overall stability of this structure is ensured by a BA core, while the stability of the intermediate nodes of the “trees” is ensured by embedding the “branches” in the floor of the first story. These arrangements allow for possible horizontal movement of the building without affecting the distribution of forces in the tree members.
Loads are transferred by the floors supported by continuous columns and beams with rigid diaphragms that distribute horizontal forces.
The facades are made of timber frames sheathed with autoclaved spruce of Class 3 with pre-graying controlled by pigmentation.
Calculation Tools
The entire structure was designed using the RFEM software by Dlubal.
RF-TIMBER Pro was used to design the frame elements (trusses, beams, and columns). RF-STABILITY was used for the buckling design checks of columns and slender elements.
The RF-DYNAM Pro add-on module was used to analyze the dynamic behavior of the building and to meet the vibration requirements for large office space.
All of these tools allowed for a detailed optimization of the structure while ensuring compliance with regulations, including Eurocodes, and environmental performance.
Conclusion
The WOOD project is a remarkable achievement in timber construction for commercial buildings. It demonstrates the technical feasibility of ambitious, sustainable architecture on a former industrial site, offering a concrete, reproducible response to tomorrow's environmental objectives in a demanding urban setting.
| Location | 82-88 rue du Vercors 38000 Grenoble France |
| Investors | STONE SECRETS GROUPAMA GAN REIM |
| Investor | Vinci Immobilier d’Entreprise |
| Architecture | ECDM Architectes |
| Timber Frame | CBS-Lifteam |
| Engineering Office – Timber Structures | Arborescence |
