PDM 3
Architect: KPF
Client: ICADE
Location: Paris, France
Completion: TBD

In 1999, French developer ICADE established a master plan to transform the northern most neighborhood of Paris, once home to an industrial warehouse depot under the rule of Napoleon, into one of the city’s major districts. Known as Parc de Millénaire, the district will soon be home to a new building by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) that recently began construction called PDM 3.

Located between the Canal Saint-Denis to the north and the Boulevard Périphérique—a highway that encircles metropolitan Paris—to the south, PDM 3 is one of two polygonal structures that will provide a visual and physical connection between Paris and the suburbs. The building will connect to the city’s 19th Arrondissement via a footbridge extending across the Périphérique.

As the new home of the Ministry of Justice, the eight-story office building, whose walls, roofs, and cantilevered soffits are all angled, will serve as an important cultural icon for Parisians.

“The design was based on the idea that we can create polygonal buildings with large accessible atrium spaces inside so the building is not only outward looking but also looks internally—a topology of Paris,” said KPF design principal Jamie von Klemperer. The building features an interior courtyard covered with a series of skylights that allow natural light to fill the interior space, creating a bright, inviting meeting area for occupants.