Social housing in Paris | Frédéric Schlachet Architecte

The project consists of eleven social housing apartments on the upper floors and two commercial properties on the ground floor. Organised around one central access, the apartments fit together with optimal use of the different types allowed in the programme, for example the duplexes on the 3rd and 4th floors, without resorting to the repetition of the same layout on every floor. Thus, the flats benefit from multiple aspects, their terraces, loggias or balconies looking out onto three different urban facades and also a neighbouring courtyard belonging to the building next door. The two courtyards together form a harmonious unit and a breathing space in the otherwise dense plot. The building is a compact object with volumes cut out of it, each one representing one of the apartments. This puzzle constitutes one of the major challenges (successes) of the architectural signature of the project. The street is no longer defined by one linear facade but according to a series of varying volumes and living spaces. The upper floors containing the apartments overhang the ground floor which is set back from the street. As a result, the local residents benefit from a widening of the narrow pavement at this section which leads to the angle of two roads intersecting at a small plaza. The bare concrete, smooth and light grey in colour, highlights the missing volumes. The panels making up the facades can be as much as two storeys high. The indentations in the panels, forming the balconies, the loggias or the windows of the buildings, confirm the intention of attaining a clear outline.