The new building of the architectural university, which has already received the informal name of La Fabrique ("Factory"), is located across the alley from the old building (nicknamed Le Garage, "Garage") and is connected to it through a glazed passage on the 2nd floor. The total area of the erected volume is 4500 m2.
The new educational building has 7 floors, but its true number of storeys is hidden due to the original solution of the facades, developed by Mimram. He interpreted the "factory" for the production of architects as an L-shaped building in the plan. With its angle, it faces a small, but nevertheless, intersection, which the architect fixes with the help of more active façade tectonics. At the level of the first floor, part of the volume is taken out of the "corner" in order to create an entrance niche, and above the monolithic volume is split into several cubic blocks, which are shifted not only relative to each other, but also relative to the central axis. The height of each of them is two floors.
The first floor of the complex is completely glazed, and above the facades are made translucent: at night they are illuminated from the inside, "exposing" the structural frame of the building.
The old school building, "Garage", is now being reconstructed according to the Mimram project and will open a year later, in December 2014. Its renovation and construction of the "Factory" cost a total of 13.4 million euros.
