The AXA Group is transforming its historic headquarters into a unique and vibrant space designed to meet the challenges of contemporary work. This ambitious operation brings together PCA-STREAM for architecture and interior design, Saguez & Partners for the design of work and social spaces, and Hauteur Libre as project management advisor.
The transformation of AXA’s headquarters is not the result of a technical constraint or a real estate strategy. It reflects a deliberate, forward-looking choice: to remain in the heart of Paris, to rehabilitate rather than rebuild, and to use architecture as a lever for transition.
PCA-STREAM was entrusted with the overall design and spatial narrative, with a vision that articulates heritage, ecology and innovation. The site brings together three architectural strata: an 18th-century hôtel particulier, two post-war modernist buildings, and now a contemporary intervention conceived as a metabolism.
The reconfiguration centers around a 2,500 sqm garden in full soil, conceived not as infrastructure. The garden regulates, inspires, hosts life. It is an architectural core as well as an ecological and collective one. The façade of the Switch building complements this ambition: a planted skin that expresses the rhythms of the living, a tangible projection of Paris in 2050. Here, architecture accepts to grow, change, require care and signal a new kind of commitment.
From the outset, PCA-STREAM developed a full-scale prototype of 600 sqm, allowing stakeholders to test materials, light, sound, and spatial flows under real conditions. This mock-up became both a design tool and research space, notably for ecologival materials. Over 30 options were tested -from oyster-shell concrete and rammed earth to recycled textiles and reclaimed stone -and evaluated using comparative criteria (origin, composition, supplier transparency, durability, maintenance). Several materials were implemented in the final project, such as terrazzo made with recycled AXA stone, or Ostrea concrete washbasins.
Hauteur Libre supported PCA Stream in the programming of the Hub connecting the three buildings and later collaborated with Saguez & Partners on the interior design. This close collaboration between all three parties encouraged a rich exchange of ideas, ultimately leading to a unified architectural vision and the creation of a flexible, sensorial, and resilient working environment.
The employee is the company’s first client. They seek service, attention and consideration. The office must offer more than the comfort of home: services, ergonomics and well-being. The era of the giant open space is over. Workspaces are now structured into small units that foster privacy and focus. Custom-made desks with rounded, organic shapes break away from the rigid lines of traditional furniture. Screens and bookshelves define the spaces while filtering sightlines and preserving openness. These areas are not static. They evolve with the user’s needs and rhythms, in an approach Saguez & Partners calls “Design by Moods.” Common spaces, informal lounges, and circulation zones reinforce the sense of autonomy, modularity and fluidity across the building.
Together, architecture and interior design give shape to a new idea of workplace: rooted in context, open to transition, and designed to last.
Architect & Interior Designer:
Design of Work and Social Spaces:
Photography: Charly Broyez, Eric Laignel, Romain Ricard
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