Designed by architect and urban planner Claude Vasconi between 1981 and 1984 at the request of the President of the Renault Factories, the 57 metal is the only construction of the vast Billancourt 2000 urban plan that has not seen the light of day.

57 metal is considered a masterpiece of industrial architecture. It
In 2001, Renault entrusted the agency with a redesign
Jakob and Mac Farlane architecture.

Recently sold to an investment fund, a strong uncertainty weighed on
the future of the 57 metal that moved many personalities
French and foreign architecture.

This decision, taken in full agreement with Pierre-Christophe Baguet, deputy mayor
Boulogne-Billancourt, places the building, for a period of one year, under
a system equivalent to that of classification for historical monuments.

No modifications will be made to this building during this period
without authorization from the Ministry of Culture and Communication.
Claude Vasconi, winner in 1982 of the Grand Prix national de l'architecture,
awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Communication, died in
December 2009. He made himself known through the great project of the forum des Halles that he
realized, from 1973 to 1979, with the architect Georges Pencréac'h. He
then major industrial architecture projects, including 57 metal,
and also the Thomson plant in Valenciennes. Claude Vasconi will produce
suite of major public facilities, such as the Hepatobiliary Surgery Center
at the Paul Brousse hospital in Villejuif, the Palais des Congrès in Reims, Le
Corum, the Palais des Congrès in Montpellier, La Filature, a cultural centre in
Mulhouse, the Grenoble Palace of Justice, as well as many accommodations in
Angers, Lille, Paris, etc.

In tribute to his memory, the Ministry of Culture and Communication
to place under its surname the last promotion of the Albums des
young architects and landscape designers.