338 Housing Units, student housing, rental and home ownership units

Three programs (student housing, rental and home ownership units) and a single building that restores calm and structure to the neighborhood: these were the stakes of this building.
The project is located in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. It takes place in the heart of the Flandres district which is highly identifiable thanks to its typical architecture of the 50s, 60s and 70s, mainly composed of large housing buildings and towers.
The neighborhood is characterized by unspecified "public-private" boundaries and generous green spaces. The trapeze-shaped parcel that hosts the project is located between Archereau and Curial streets. These two streets meet to the south of the plot to form a small square planted of trees.
The building tales place between two symbolic architectural entities of the district: The Cent Quatre (cultural and arts center) and the Organs of Flanders (housing towers) of which one of the towers adjoins the project on the north side of the plot.
The parking located at the project base reuses an old car park structure already existing on the plot. It got a common access ramp with the neighboring tower. The project’s superstructure is added on the parking’s in two parts that are placed to create a void in the tower’s axis.
The primary purpose of this superstructure is to create a real urban continuity, an alignment on the street that clears the block’s heart, and to permit to place a central garden.
Street facades are punctually dug to provide loggias. Strips and balconies surround the building and ensure the whole homogeneity. They emphasize the horizontality of the building in this very vertical urban context.
The southern boundary of the parcel is treated as a prow opening on the outside. The apartments located on this prow enjoy double heights with large windows and wide terraces facing south and a very clear view of Paris. The northern gables incorporate glass paving for additional lighting in staircases.
The penthouses going up to 9th floor and 10th floor rise slightly behind the street facades thus allowing to offer large terraces and outdoor spaces to the apartments located at these levels. These setbacks refine the building and echo the rhythmic effects already existing in the urban landscape. Last levels apartments got roof terraces easy to reach through a staircase inside the apartment.
The heart of the block benefits from an original treatment: the interior facades are folding to form scales. These glazed angles allow to offer views in order to increase the visual perception from the inside of the dwellings and maximize the intake of natural light.
The creation of a garden in the block’s heart keeps an opening in the neighboring tower’s axis by optimizing the openings to the south, so the views from the tower are cleared. The south illuminates all housing units. The "butterfly" garden frees an evolutive volume: to the south, a more intimate part with gardens and private terraces, to the north a large planted garden.
The wooden terraces of the ground floor dwellings open onto the garden. The use of vegetation creates enough privacy for this ground floor apartments. A wooden pedestrian crossing digs the project from East to West perpendicularly to the central garden and permits some entries to the apartments.
Pedestrians passing along the building can perceive the planted heart thanks to this rift. It allows a real visual and pedestrian connection between the two streets surrounding the project. The use of wood in this crossing gives a domestic dimension to the whole project.