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Origin and history

The Laboratoire de la Marine, located in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, was built between 1929 and 1932 by architects Auguste and Gustave Perret. This reinforced concrete building, plan in U, initially housed the offices and laboratories of the Technical Service for Shipbuilding (STCN), a key body of the French National Navy. It was raised from a fourth level in 1960 and its facades and roofs were inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 1965.

The STCN, created in 1895 under the direction of Émile Bertin, was responsible for designing the surface and submarine vessels of the National Navy, as well as verifying the plans of the engineers of the arsenals and private industry. Initially attached to the Materiel Directorate of the Ministry of the Navy, it evolved as a result of administrative reforms, notably becoming the Technical Service for Naval Construction and Weapons (STCAN) before being incorporated, in part, into the Hexagone Balard in the early 21st century.

The Perret Building, located at the corner of Victor Boulevard and Avenue de la Porte-de-Sèvres, is a notable example of modern industrial architecture. It symbolizes the strategic importance of technical innovations in French shipbuilding, while embodying the legacy of the Perret brothers, pioneers of reinforced concrete. Today, some of the installations are dedicated to the DGA Hydrodynamic Techniques Centre, while others have been transferred to Toulon.

The Parisian site played a central role in the research and development of naval programs, notably under the direction of figures such as Charles Doyère or Henri Charpentier, who marked the history of French marine engineering. The archives and studies conducted in this laboratory demonstrate its importance in the evolution of naval technologies in the twentieth century.

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