Cartoucherie Wood’art Eco District | Dietrich I Untertrifaller

The mixed-use eco-district “Cartoucherie Wood’art” will be built on a former industrial site on the left bank of the Garonne. Together with Seuil Architecture, we have built a complex with flats, shops and a hotel on a 13,000 m² site. On the edge of the public square and lined by the tram axis, the hotel tower sets a clear accent in the new district. Behind it, on the quieter west side, two residential complexes rise on a plinth with shops and public facilities. The lush green gardens on the roof of the plinth are visible from the square and provide common meeting spaces for the residents. They also form a reserve for biodiversity and limit the creation of heat islands. At ground level, a pedestrian street connects all the buildings, widening in some places to create space for café terraces. The buildings are 75 % timber constructions – a topic that is gaining more and more importance in France.

The hotel and the residential buildings are constructed from two-dimensional, prefabricated wooden modules. This construction not only has a very positive effect on the energy indicators and the indoor climate, but also on the construction time and thus on the costs. Wood also provides a pleasant ambience and a high level of living comfort in the hotel lobby, on the facades, ceilings and balconies, both visually and haptically.

Terracotta panels, echoing the local colour tradition of the “ville rose”, form a double skin of façade along the paths and passages of the tower and in front of the loggias of the flats. The visual unity of our architecture creates a distinctive reference point for the neighbourhood, while the diversity of the public spaces, the permeability of the blocks and the social and functional mix of the buildings guarantee a lively environment for the users.

In the flats, untreated wood surfaces offer a natural, healthy living environment for all the senses. Seeing, touching, smelling – wood awakens emotions and creates a sense of well-being. Underfloor heating, which is connected to the Eco-Quartier’s heating network, spreads mild radiant heat and increases this effect even further. Partition walls made of CLT (cross-laminated timber) enable modular construction and flexible adaptation of the flat floor plans if required.

From the ground floor upwards, apart from a concrete core for the circulation, the entire superstructure was built in prefabricated timber. This solution ensures less waste and faster construction times, which is an essential requirement for building in densely populated cities.

The residential district of La Cartoucherie shows that wood is an excellent building material, not only because of its ecologically sustainable qualities and its positive effect on the quality of living but also due to its affordability and constructional properties in large-scale, urban buildings.