Construction is progressing on a mass-timber academic building with a stone facade designed by architecture firm Studio Gang for the University of Chicago campus in Paris.

The University of Chicago John W. Boyer Center was designed by Studio Gang in accordance with the French sustainability law requiring new public buildings to be built from at least 50 per cent wood or other natural materials.

Construction has commenced on the University of Chicago centre in Paris. Photo by Corentin Lespagnol

Aligned with president Emmanuel Macron's goal for France to be carbon-neutral by 2050, the law was implemented in 2022 and set out to reduce the carbon impact of buildings.

It aims to prioritise low-carbon bio-based materials such as wood, hemp and straw over other construction materials like concrete and steel.

The centre will have a mass timber structure. Photo by Corentin Lespagnol

Once complete, the Paris-based University of Chicago centre will have a lightweight hybrid structure made from mass timber set atop a steel ground floor structure that spans across an existing concrete grid.

Located in Paris Rive Gauche in the city's 13th arrondissement, the building's external facades will be decorated with fibreglass batons coated in Lutetian limestone.

According to Studio Gang design principal Rodia Valladares, the limestone was sourced from the Saint Maximin quarry, which is approximately 40 kilometres from the building site.