Social housing in Paris suburbs
Competition won for the last building of a major urban renovation project within a 1960's housing estate. Dialog between bricks and metal volumetry.
Within a major urban renovation project by TVK in the near suburbs of southern Paris. The Chaperon Vert district renovation has taken over a large housing estate build in 1965 in which the housing competition asked for a two architects team in order to offer variety of height and design.
The team we offered divided simply the project in two, creating a dialog between a taller brick signal on the south designed by Parisian team Daquin & Ferrière, and our design of a sleek stacking of black metal cladded facades that create a vibration with the facing estate from 1965. The typical visible concrete structure with brick filling that is a witness of the cheap rolling crane building method of the era, is answered by a mysterious almost ethereal vision of dark materiality with no more perceivable structure. The dynamic interlacing created by the orientation of each levels create unusual depth that are emphasized by the sharp edges of each openings and corners.
The plans have had the complex task of allocating various size flats overlapping each others with no linear stacking. This created a randomized position of windows and the internal loggias we have chosen to build that provide a 6th façade reducing the depth of the building and offering a real transparency in the main flats between street and garden façade. The difference between the luminous interiors and the dark façade is barely felt by inhabitants that perceive clear and warm materials.
The building is using a classical poured concrete walls, with external insulation and a galvanized steel structure that supports the direction changing skin. Windows are held in steel frames fasten to the concrete openings, giving good thermal and air tight performance of the enclosure. The custom pre- lacquered microperforated aluminium panels are held by gravity and a few tightenings, and the façade is fully ventilated and not water tight until it meets the delta water tight barrier. This design allows for more freedom over French construction regulation that requires industrial materials to fit in a pre-designed calculated and tested process that restrict design freedom.
