The center of Lyon is located on a peninsula created by the Rhône and Saône rivers as they converge. The southern tip – La Confluence – has largely been used for industry although, over the last ten years, it has begun to be redeveloped. David Chipperfield Architects was appointed to coordinate three blocks with eleven buildings within a master plan by Herzog & de Meuron. This role entailed adapting the wider master plan to the specific site and program as well as developing strategies for the landscape, the general massing, organization, and facade design of the buildings.

The practice was also appointed to design three individual buildings: a social housing building, an office building, and a mixed-use tower. All three use robust materials such as concrete and wood, and are defined by their rectilinear forms, yet they react to their specific location in different ways. In the social housing block deep recesses in two of its facades create loggias for the apartments facing a public square and a garden; in the office building balconies run along the two principal facades, facing the river and garden respectively; and taller, the mixed-use tower has large windows at its corners, offering views over the city and river.