Inauguration of the Lumen, Université Paris-Saclay’s new learning centre
On Thursday 18 January 2024, Université Paris-Saclay inaugurated its new learning centre, the Lumen. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Estelle Iacona, President of Université Paris-Saclay, and Sylvie Retailleau, the French Minister of Higher Education and Research.
Open to its local area and designed as a university library which also hosts activities and services for teaching, research, culture, science outreach and innovation, the Lumen opened its doors for the first time on 18 September 2023.
Since it opened, three months ago, the public have flocked to make use of the centre’s spaces for work, culture and leisure and the Lumen has recorded 100,000 entry admissions. The Lumen is the result of a collaboration between Université Paris-Saclay and two of its grandes écoles, CentraleSupélec and ENS Paris-Saclay. It is far more than a library on the Plateau de Saclay; it is a hub of activity dedicated to excellence at the very heart of the campus.
The Lumen building was created by Beaudouin Architectes, in partnership with MGM Morales De Giles Arquitectos. The architectural design of the building blends in perfectly with the campus landscape, with its curved contour following the route of the overhead metro, demonstrating the university’s openness to the outside world and symbolising the transition from the university campus to the local area. Designed to attract natural light through its intricate tapestry of white pillars, its steel framework creates an artistic structure which lets in a gentle light, changing throughout the day and with each passing season. The Lumen was awarded a prestigious international prize for Spanish architecture in 2017.
Open to all, the Lumen provides its students, academics, researchers, members of its local economic and industrial ecosystem and the general public with millions of books, journals and articles1 , in print or electronically. Its documents are taken from the collections belonging to Université Paris-Saclay,
CentraleSupélec, and ENS Paris-Saclay.