27 social housing units
This 27-social-housing-unit project near Marseille develops an architecture where siting, plan, structure, and matter stem from a single constructive logic. Every decision is anchored in the site, the topography, and the fabrication process.
The geological hand-to-hand
Sited at the foot of the 19th-century church, the building leans against the retaining wall and extends the relief to form a true inhabited plinth. Its progressive stepping accompanies the silhouette of the parish, while the southern gable asserts the entrance to the site. The two vertical emergences punctuate the composition and write the project into the landscape. Topography here becomes a genuine design material.
The threshold Strategy
The project is organized around an old lane transformed into a paved promenade linking the different levels of the village. This pathway structures the access points and connects public spaces with housing. A planted strip runs alongside the ground floors, while a long concrete bench rests against the church wall. In its upper section, the building redraws the forecourt into a square that naturally extends the neighborhood's uses.
From village house to apartment
The cross-section exploits the slope to superimpose three housing typologies: duplex houses with gardens, dual-aspect intermediate housing, and penthouse apartments benefiting from multiple orientations. The loggias, carved out of the volume's thickness, extend the living spaces and ensure climate regulation adapted to the orientations, thanks to lightweight metalwork on the east side and a solid guardrail on the west side.
A philosophy of formwork
The entire operation is governed by a 2.40-meter structural grid corresponding to the width of a formwork panel. This measurement simultaneously organizes the structure, the facades, and the rhythm of the openings. Cast-in-place, through-colored, and enriched with limestone aggregates, the concrete precisely expresses its manufacturing process. The wooden window frames, integrated into its thickness, bring a domestic scale to this mineral construction.
Formwork here transcends its technical function to become the generating principle of the project. From siting to materiality, each element participates in the same constructive philosophy, where structure, uses, and landscape compose an architecture of great permanence.
