The Greening of AUP

We’ve planted a vertical garden! Just like the Quai Branly museum down the street, The American University of the Paris is now the proud owner of a living green façade.

Rising above the glass-roofed “Atrium” reading room, it’s one of the most striking architectural features of our future Quai d’Orsay Student Learning Center. At around 70 m² (750 sq. ft.), our garden covers approximately 70% of the front wall of our new four-floor courtyard building.

As the city of Paris works to become greener, at AUP we’re doing our part to help clean the air and provide an ecosystem for local wildlife. Over the coming months, our garden will grow into a luxuriant green tapestry flecked with white flowers. And once the Learning Center opens in 2019, the entire AUP community will be able to admire this natural wonder while reading in the book-lined Atrium, collaborating on a class project in a group study room, or creating a soon-to-be viral video in the student media lab.

And that’s not all. Over the next few months, we’re planning to add several hundred square meters of plants to our technical roof terraces, at both the Quai d’Orsay and the adjoining Combes building.

Generations of students have delighted in the unique natural environment of our Grenelle building, nestled alongside a lovely garden behind a century-old stone church. As of early next year, students at the Quai-Combes Student Life and Learning Center, our largest campus site, will enjoy a greener environment in a fully renovated space.