JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #113 - June 2017 - 39

domes

Between minimalism and baroque:
a first in France's construction sector
The architecture firm Wilmotte & Associés has completed an exceptional,
monumental project near the Eiffel Tower: the Russian Orthodox Spiritual and
Cultural Centre, with its five golden onion domes made of composite materials.

T

he onion domes so characteristic
of Orthodox architecture were
absolutely required for the cathedral
- representing Jesus Christ and the four
Apostles Mark, Luke, John and Matthew.
That was one of the instructions from the
owner, the Russian Federation.

Combining tradition,
harmony with the urban landscape,
and a new creative design
Jean-Michel Wilmotte and his team started
out by making sketches. "Onion domes are

monolithic, without joints, like abstract scale
objects placed on the building, with huge,
very smooth modules. And these domes go
from concave to convex, which complicated
things even more!"
What to use to make these spectacular
domes? Who would know how to do it?
"We ran through the whole spectrum of
potential construction techniques. How could
we cover these unusual domes? It wasn't possible using standard techniques! We explored
a lot and brain-stormed, then looked further
into the automotive industry - there were
some very innovative possibilities between
sheet-metal work and prototyping, but at
very small scales, and besides, the prices went
over the budget.
"In the team from Bouygues (general
contractor for project management), one of
the project managers had experience in the
aviation industry. We started to talk about
aircraft cockpits and, by association, we got
to the subject of composite materials. Would

Multiplast workshop ©Multiplast

No113 June 2017

/ jec composites magazine

Feature Construction

This new 4000-sq-metre Russian centre
consists of the Saint Trinity Cathedral,
an administrative centre, a school, and a
cultural centre. Louis Lafargue, project
director for the architecture firm Wilmotte
& Associés tells us more about this extraordinary architectural adventure.

completely new shapes for us in France. They
aren't one of our building traditions," said
Louis Lafargue, project director in charge
of the Orthodox centre, "so we did a lot of
work on the profiles and on the models, using
3D printing with the building information
model (BIM) that both architects and engineers use. We also exchanged a lot with our
Russian colleagues, followed the instructions
of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, and explored
many different shapes. We did a lot of
travelling between Paris and Moscow. Using
iteration, we arrived at this particular shape
and these gilded volumes in this particular
shade of gold that is more matte and paler
than usual." It was important not to compete with the nearby dome of the Invalides
or the horses on the Alexandre III Bridge,
shimmering in the classic traditional
yellow gold seen in Paris, and which is
achieved by gilding on lead or copper.
"But we still didn't know what we were going
to use to make these big domes," continues
Mr. Lafargue. "We wanted something quite

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #113 - June 2017
