Character residence

Rather than building a linear bar of 90 dwelling units, the TAA agency decided to separate the structure so as to give a feeling of lightness. This is quite unexpected in a project on this scale, with volumes spread out over more than 100 metres. The designers’ idea? To work with an incremental gradation of building heights. The main building, classed as R+5, a six-storey building, therefore sits at the corner of two boulevards, yet does not appear to be a massive structure thanks to the softness of the rounded prow. It then falls away gradually towards the suburban area at the other end of the plot. It has an architectural language that is just as aesthetically pleasing as it is strategic, guided by the desire to give the project a human dimension, and further accentuated by the creation of sheltered passageways in a bioclimatic greenhouse. Finally, three 3-dimensional blocks of the facade round off the project, with town houses on the ground floor and apartments above, giving a total of 12 dwellings.
 
So as to reinforce the impression that the blocks are breaking away from the facade, two colours of brick are used here: variated light brown on the body of the main building and Toulouse red on the three volumes grafted onto it. On these facades, deliberately designed to give a monolithic effect, just one line of white concrete is used to mark the levels, like strata in rock, and delicately seat the brick. Each terrace boasts a moucharaby latticework section designed as a screen and constructed in solid bricks of the same length and colour as the surrounding brickwork. A rhythmic interplay of solids and voids that matches the sparkle of the variated facade and gives a sense of continuity. There can be no doubt that this ambitious project will bring many others in its wake...