EDISON LITE | Manuelle Gautrand Architecture

Among the 22 architectural projects selected from the call for innovative urban projects launched by the City of Paris, ‘REINVENTER PARIS 1’, our EDISON LITE project proposed a new housing model, based on three main principles that we established: - The creation of ‘made-to-measure’ housing units, whereby the future residents were able to participate in establishing the brief as well as the design of their home; - The provision of 20% extra surface area, defi ned and shared with the residents: this provides access to space and facilities that would not otherwise be available to individual residents; - To welcome residents into an existing landscape: largely planted during works, the architectural project includes 75 m3 of soil, divided between 290 planters and a large, 150 m2 allotment on the roof. These plants have had time to establish themselves and grow before the arrival of residents. Residents are thereby greeted by an established natural environment, for which they will have responsibility. The project thus proposes a sort of ‘permacultural’ way of life: residents will produce some of their own food, learning the pleasure of watching food grow, a means of encouraging them to participate in the collective eff ort that we must all undertake to reduce supply chains and move towards a landscape of edible permaculture as near as possible to home. With regards materials, the project set itself the principle of ‘the right material in the right place’. The result is an optimised combination of concrete, timber and metal. It should be noted that the apartments are sold at a fi xed price of 7,990 € incl. VAT per square metre, around 30% lower than the market rate. All sales and marketing was conducted online thanks to online platform HABX: nearly 2,000 applications were received for the 13 open-market units. The buyers were selected according to a variety of criteria aimed at ensuring a community of residents both diverse and compatible. The building includes two fi tted-out commercial units on the ground fl oor: one is now occupied by the Babilou crèche and the other is a physiotherapy practice.