Ubisoft to move into Impulse in Villeurbanne in 2020

This week, developers Promoval and 6^ième Sens Immobilier laid the foundation stone of Impulse, a 9,800 m² development that will house, among other occupants, the offices of video game publisher Ubisoft. The design is by the Lyon-based practice Soho Atlas, with a total budget of €12 million.

The project is located in the Tonkin district of Villeurbanne, not far from the Université de Lyon 1 campus and INSA Lyon. The site is served by two metro lines and two tram lines, which reach Lyon Part-Dieu station within minutes. It is also enlivened by the market on place Wilson, which spreads out into the surrounding area every Sunday morning.

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Villeurbanne, Lyon's industrial town within the Lyon ring road, still has many remnants of the textile-mill era. The site retains a tall chimney, which will be shortened and topped with a metal cap. A tannery once occupied the plot, which led to some six months of extensive asbestos removal and decontamination work.

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Soho Atlas's scheme is divided into four buildings. The video game company Ubisoft, currently based in the adjacent street, will occupy the largest, with 3,100 m². A narrow lane will run through the site, linking rue de Bruxelles to the north with avenue Galline.

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The architect Patrick Miton explains: “From the corner of avenue Galline and boulevard Roger Salengro, the contextual architecture of the project marks the renewal of the block. This contemporary scheme is expressed through legible volumes and durable materials that recall the site's history, creating a link between its past and its future. This is a strong symbolic aspect of the project, which will become a landmark in the neighbourhood.”

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The project has a relatively restrained façade with a regular grid of openings. It is a pity that the architects did not take advantage of the chimney to create distinctive framed views and give the neighbourhood an architectural jolt. This is probably for economic reasons: the budget works out at €1,200/m².