SOCIAL HOUSING
Located at the southern end of the ZAC Monges-Croix du Sud in Cornebarrieu, this housing project by atelier Régis Roudil links the preserved countryside with the new urban fabric of the ZAC. It constitutes a point of entry to the district. The transition from a natural landscape to organic geometry and a gentle form of urbanisation integrated with nature is at the heart of the project, whose essence is defined by the surrounding landscape while also articulating the entrance to the southern end of the ZAC.
Building horizontally and low, with one- and two-room flats set on a base, enabled the integration of vegetation and the park into the same lots, and thus the repurposing of the grounds and public space. Careful attention to the impression of density structures the project.
DIALECTIC OF A CALM BLOCK OF FLATS
On both the ground and upper floors, the impression of density is generated by the scale of the flat and its window. This collective housing building, composed of two-room flats, has a linear façade of over 150 metres on the outer ring. The architectural style of the façade aims to break the monotony of this volume’s mass. Flats are visually separated from each other by solid wood panels. These separations also introduce a domestic quality to a very long building.
The project is designed to offer both distant and nearby views, with elements of the programme facing one another as well. The relationship between the housing and the exterior is notably made possible by broad glazed areas and balconies running along the entire periphery of the building. This guarantees a degree of intimacy while bathing the rooms in light. For thermal and functional purposes, a dense framework of vertical elements is positioned along the length of the balconies.
All the flats enjoy double exposure and are accessible from the walkways along the interior ring of the building.
PARK IN THE HEART OF THE CITY BLOCK
Greenery and organic materials are folded into the continuity of the landscape project of the ZAC, creating a pleasant density and open ground. Building simple, straightforward, long, and thin volumes, taking advantage of the generous surface of the lot, has made it possible to free up spaces for grassy areas and well-aerated places, benefiting from the luxuriant nature and offering multiple uses.
Greenery is also included throughout the operation, with different needs between the edges of the lot and its core. The architecture translates these needs, upon which they depend, to offer a shared reading of the heart of the city block.
Lively and inhabited, this heart can be understood from the street and helps orient the public towards the different spaces and entities. The interior opens onto two gaps and two broad sheltered porches connecting it to the central park of the ZAC, roadways, and gentle pathways. It takes on the bucolic appearance of forest glades and can be seen through the permeable ground floor from Rue Jacqueline Auriol and Avenue Henri Guillaumet.
