Riedisheim

This retirement home is located on the heights of Riedisheim (a suburb of Mulhouse), in a residential neighborhood. The conjunction of geophysical and regulatory constraints rendered this plot of land difficult to build upon: its elongated form, its gradient exceeding 10%, and the very restrictive POS regulations applicable to it were a priori incompatible with the size and demands of the project. These conditions led us to develop the entire project within a construction adopted to the form and constraints of the land. The building unfolds in length from east to west, while its height, made of up of four trays slightly shifting away from one another, follows the natural slope. Its height never exceeds the maximum authorized 10m (the equivalent of three floors) at any point level with the land. The building was also positioned near the plot’s northern dividing boundary, which allowed us a POS (H=L), hence a progressive spacing in relation to this boundary, as it goes along and the land descends. This proximity allowed us to free up the southern side so as to build the living spaces of each unit with a terrace attached to each. The roofs, visible from the principal access road located at the top of the plot, are all planted, which helped dampen the impact of construction in the neighborhood. We divided the length of the building into little modules the size of several rooms, in order to better integrate the length within the residential environment. These interruptions bring about the entry of a generous amount of natural light into the interior circulatory paths of all floors. The flour floors are composed of: two large units on the ground floor and upstairs, the Alzheimer unit at garden level, and the service premises at the level of the courtyard. In spite of the shifting between one floor and another, we concentrated all the service spaces of each unit one atop another, around the vertical circulatory paths, which creates a shortening in the distances the staff must travel. The building complex is covered in wood, whose reassuring touch is present at the center of the lives of residents.