Le Velum, a 15,000 m² office programme completes the renovation of the La Buire district in Lyon. This 8-storey building comprises three volumes linked by suspended gardens. To unify the overall composition of the façade, a glass screen surrounds the building providing thermal, sound and sunlight protection. At the rear of the building, a light metal structure is laid out from the upper floors towards the garden, and serves as a sun shelter hence the Velum name for the building. The glass screen is suspended from a beam “curtain rod” style for the upper part and buttoned over its height by a network shaped button and cable structure. The glass volumes are maintained by point-shaped feet which obtained an ATEX authorisation. It is the dissociation between the own weight loads and the wind loads that produce the overall impression of lightness of the structure and makes one forget that the density of the glass is that of the concrete…