On February 20, Renzo Piano Building Workshop announced that the building permit for the Hôpital Universitaire Saint-Ouen Grand Paris Nord (HUSOGPN) has been officially granted. The project is a state initiative responding to rapid population growth, increasing demand for care, and evolving technical standards with a “next-generation” hospital in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, a commune in the northern suburbs of the French capital. The hospital will be located on the site of the former PSA factory, once an industrial engine of the region and now large and well-connected enough to host a program of rare scale: 986 beds and 288 day places, a workforce of over 5,500 professionals, and facilities equipped with contemporary technology for areas such as surgery and maternity. Envisioned as a “hospital-landscape,” the building designed by RPBW in association with Brunet Saunier & Associés stands out for featuring a 1.3-hectare roof garden and an urban forest with over 1,000 trees.
The origins of the new hospital project date back to 2013, when the State and AP-HP announced an initiative to consolidate the medico-surgical activities of the Bichat–Claude-Bernard Hospital in Paris’s 18th arrondissement and Beaujon Hospital in Clichy, both located in aging buildings that were overly constrained and difficult to modernize, into a single new site integrated with the university and well connected to transport networks. In 2018, the site of the former PSA factory in Saint-Ouen was selected. In 2019, the project was recognized as a Project of General Interest (PIG) by prefectural decree and declared of Public Utility (DUP) in 2022, confirming its strategic importance for the Île-de-France region. The selected project is expected to be operational by 2032.
The future hospital is intended to embody the modernization of a highly solicited public health service. After four years of urban, technical, and architectural studies, the core intent has been defined as building a hospital that is “compact, legible, and porous, designed for long-term resilience and adaptability.” The building brings together a complete hospital, a university hub, and facilities dedicated to training, research, and student life. The complex will offer 986 beds, 90% of which are single rooms, including 120 dedicated to intensive care, as well as 288 day-hospital places, a maternity ward accommodating up to 2,000 births per year, a technical platform with 16 heavy imaging devices, and a surgical block with 48 equipped rooms. A complementary site gathering medical care and rehabilitation activities will be located in the immediate vicinity of the hospital.
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The “hospital-landscape” concept guiding the selected project treats natural light, modularity, and lush vegetation as integral clinical components. From a forecourt and urban forest to planted patios and a one-hectare rooftop garden, greenery is integrated to provide a calm environment for both patients and staff. This greening strategy also contributes to reducing energy consumption, combined with reinforced insulation, optimized ventilation management, and solar protection. In an interview conducted by architecture critic and journalist Jean-Philippe Hugron, architects Antoine Chaaya from RPBW and Jérôme Brunet from Brunet Saunier & Associés explain that this “hospital-landscape” concept goes beyond environmental performance. The greenery is intended to support healing by providing a therapeutic atmosphere for patients and professionals alike. The architects also highlight a shared architectural vision based on flexibility and “isotropy,” creating a structure capable of evolving alongside the future of medicine.
In other news, Renzo Piano Building Workshop also released this year images of the transformation of Montparnasse’s emblematic shopping center and CIT Tower into a pedestrian-focused district. The emblematic Centre Pompidou building, designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers in the 1970s, was recently featured in an exhibition showcasing archival material from the competition that led to the selection of the current design, presenting alternative, imaginative, and sometimes unbuildable proposals. The Centre Pompidou is currently closed for a major five-year transformation entrusted to Moreau Kusunoki, in association with Frida Escobedo Studio and AIA Life Designers for the technical components. Another cultural venue, the new premises of the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, opened in late 2025 in a Haussmannian building that once housed the Grands Magasins du Louvre, reimagined by Jean Nouvel.