The Lumen is “much more than a library”.
“It’s a place dedicated to knowledge where 100,000 people have already passed since its opening last September,” says Estelle Iacona, the president of Paris-Saclay University.
On January 18, she inaugurated this building located on the Saclay plateau, in the Moulon district of Gif-sur-Yvette (Essonne), in the presence of Sylvie Retailleau, the Minister of Higher Education and of Research who knows this project well since she chaired the university before being appointed to the government in May 2022.
A place of learning, research and emancipation, the Lumen @univparissaclay is now available to students.
I am happy to participate in its inauguration today.
pic.twitter.com/DigfXoBExb
— Sylvie Retailleau (@sretaileau) January 18, 2024
“This bright building offers a new way of studying, of researching in an open campus anchored in its territory,” applauds the minister.
It is a place of study supported by several establishments, mainly the University of Paris-Saclay, CentraleSupélec and the ENS (École normale supérieure) of Paris-Saclay.
It also aims to make knowledge more accessible.
It is a place open to the city, to all audiences.
» For Yann Cauchetier, mayor (DVD) of Gif-sur-Yvette, “this beautiful equipment promotes conditions of emulation for research and breathes life into the Saclay plateau”.
Read also Plateau de Saclay: a designer and “ecological” building to bring together major engineering schools
Because if the Lumen is primarily frequented by students, teachers and researchers from the campus, the site is also open to residents of the Saclay plateau and the valley.
Everyone can go there to work or benefit from a very vast collection made up of millions of books, journals and articles, printed or digital, from the collections of the University of Paris-Saclay, CentraleSupélec and ENS Paris- Saclay.
Nathan and Alexandre, two students from CentraleSupélec, have already got used to it.
“We come from time to time,” they confide.
It is more practical than the CentraleSupélec library, especially for working in pairs or larger groups because there are very well-equipped rooms.
The only downside is that there aren't enough of them, they're all overrun.
»
Same story for Rémy: “It’s a very large and very bright library, which offers a large number of scientific works.
It is pleasant to work there, even if the place lacks seats: given the available space, it seems to me that there could be many more facilities.
»
A small robot transports documents
Antoine summarizes a fairly general feeling: “Too few places for such a large building”.
Entirely financed by the State, which has put more than 42 million euros on the table, the Lumen covers approximately 7,000 m2.
Made up of several floors including a terrace on the top level, it offers nearly a thousand places “to work alone in a quiet place, or with several people in small groups in one of the 23 digitally equipped work rooms”.
Its regulars, however, appreciate “its wide opening hours” (Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.).
“It’s very practical and above all adapted to our needs,” says Anaïs, a university student.
We are also welcomed by very professional teams.
Not to mention the documents we can access.
It's a mine.
»
Martine Coppet, deputy director of Dibiso (library, information and open science department) and head of Lumen, is proud to show off the material library, “the most important in France”.
“Both a research and inspiration tool, this space allows you to manipulate, analyze and compare some 400 material samples as well as having access to a rich database of more than 9,000 references,” explains She.
Gif-sur-Yvette, January 18, 2024. This droid robot transports books in the building but also in different university libraries on the plateau.
LP/C.CH.
Another source of pride: the autonomous logistics droid.
Resembling a miniature van, this small robot traveling like an autonomous vehicle transports the documents required for loans within Lumen, but also between the different university libraries on campus.
“The students really like seeing him move around on the set or in the corridors of Lumen,” smiles Martine Coppet.
On the architectural side, the Beaudouin Architectes agency, in partnership with MGM Morales De Giles Arquiectos, chose to follow the curvature of the future aerial metro (line 18 of the Grand Paris express) on which the Lumen almost leans.
“This place is a precursor and exemplary of what we want to have in the coming years,” congratulates Sylvie Retailleau.
Science must not remain locked in its ivory tower, but be like this building: open and luminous.
»
Gif-sur-Yvette, January 18, 2024. The Lumen was 100% financed by the State which spent more than 42 million euros.
LP/C.CH.