La Barbière's towers
Located on the southern outskirts of Avignon, these 5 concrete giants dating from the 1960s house more than 370 appartements spread over 12 levels. The declared will of the city was to offer residents a new image of this city and improve the comfort of families present.
First, we intervened on the ground floor spaces to improve the occupants' safety with a proposition a complete reconfiguration of the halls and access from the public space. The associative premises at the base of the building are also renovated and brought up to standard.
In order to offer a new image of the towers, we played with the apparent brutality of the facades by proposing a review of this concrete frame. Keeping the present ornaments and adding them to sliding shutters, we revealed the building envelope. Only the apartments on the south facade benefited from an outdoor area. In order to intimidate these spaces and make them more adaptable to the lifestyles of each, we proposed a moving facade composed of a set of sliding metal shutters on the entire height of the building. The heavy restructuring also made it possible to offer the other appartements "reported terraces" on the East and West façades of each of the towers.
The improvement of the comfort of life of the inhabitants was made by a renovation of all bathrooms and kitchen apartments. To work on a busy site, has enabled a more concrete approach to needs by proposing modifications to the "map" in order to answer the best the expectations of the inhabitants.
