Very High Performance Apartments in Paris, France by RMDM Architectes

Article source: RMDM Architectes

RMDM’s first social housing development establishes a unique building envelope on an enclosed urban block undergoing radical transformation. The program consists of two buildings with five apartments (located at 5 and 9 Impasse Dupuy respectively) and is in line with the policy fighting against the unhealthiness of the City of Paris. It offers contemporary and comfortable housing in the heart of the 18th district to those on lower incomes.

Very High Performance Apartments - Photo by Cecile Septet

• Architects: RMDM Architectes
• Project: Very High Performance Apartments
• Location: 5,9 Impasse Dupuy, Paris, France
• Company: COMPLEET | Delbarre & Cabrera Associées
• Contracting Authority: Siemp
• Team: Rmdm (Agent) / Lgx (Engineering Firm & Economy)
• Net Floor Area: 780 M²
• Cost: 1.510.000 €
• Eco Label: Very High Performance Thpe Enr, H&E
• Materials: Alucobond, Thermal Solar Panel

Very High Performance Apartments - Photo by Cecile Septet

Urban context
The project’s particularity lies in both the division of the land into two lots and the size of these lots (small at less than 250m² each). The Impasse Dupuy is a small street less than 4 meters wide that opens onto rue Philippe de Girard. Within this very dense fabric, we have sought to enlarge the area.

Very High Performance Apartments - Photo by Cecile Septet

Architectural Response
Designed in a U-shape around patios and freeing up a green space along the edge of the street, each plot offers largely glazed double-oriented apartments that open onto the outside to get maximum benefit from natural light. The living rooms overlook the public spaces and contribute to the vitality of urban life.

The buildings are clad with coated aluminum cassette panel cladding in three shades from grey to white. Plain panels on the standard sections alternate with perforated panels on the railings and the hinged shutters animate the façade according to the degree of opening, whilst also providing protection from the summer sun and maintaining the residents’ privacy. The gable received special attention and was afforded the same treatment as the façade due to its importance in the building’s perception and its impact on the landscape of the cul-de-sac.

Very High Performance Apartments - Photo by Cecile Septet

Organisation
On the first floor is a three-bedroom (T4) apartment with regulation-compliant disabled access, and suitably equipped from the outset. This apartment also benefits from a private small courtyard. The floors above house a studio (T1) and two-bedroom (T3) apartment on either side of a central staircase. The latter enjoys natural lighting. The main building overlooking the street is built on a basement where the cellars that every apartment boasts can be found, along with the storeroom, the meter room, and the boiler room. The recycling room is directly accessible from the outside, near to the entrance hall. The bike room is accessible from the hall.

Very High Performance Apartments - Photo by Cecile Septet

Environmental Qualities
Separated from the cul-de-sac by a painted metal fence, the space freed up has been planted with low-growing trees and shrubs to bring greenery to an environment which today is exclusively mineral (Cornus Kousa, cornus Alba…). The low-pitched roof is equipped with thermal solar panels that provide some of the hot water production. The two rear wings have terraced roofs. The building is insulated from the outside and the heating is provided by a gas condensing shared boiler. All of the apartments are fitted with Type B hydro-adjustable mechanical ventilation systems. The building holds a Habitat & Environment Profile A certification (Habitat & Environnement profil A option performance), in addition to the Very High Energy Performance (THPE EnR) 2005 certification (Benchmark Consumption -30%). It was built according to the “clean site” charter.

Very High Performance Apartments - Photo by Cecile Septet

RMDM architectes is a frank and creative agency, investing its energy in the search for architecture with meaning, that provides a full and poetic response to the surroundings; ambitious certainly, but far from showing evidence of convention. The agency was established in 2001 following the Europan VI victory, and the architectural bias of the 3 partners Eric Dolent, Philippe Maillols and Alexandre de Muizon has continued to be dictated by combining the unique with the coherent ever since.

This process lead them to their current work, where identity and atmospheres are generated with sensitivity, where issues and constraints remain controlled and understood as factors offering new opportunities. It is undoubtedly this alchemy between an artistic approach and contextual thinking that lead to them winning the first session of the « Nouveaux Albums des Jeunes Architectes » in 2002, earning them a place exhibiting at both the 8th Venice Biennale of Architecture and the 1st Peking Biennale of Architecture.

Very High Performance Apartments - Photo by Cecile Septet

Having today won the support and trust of large public and private clients both nationally and internationally, RMDM architectes continuously validate their approach through a variety of projects on every scale. Renewing the urban face by re-transcribing the questioning of an architectural style that is more relevant than ever. They seek to assert the intrinsic qualities of buildings far beyond the plans, as well as the added values in terms of functionality and ease of use. These are the motivations that drive the technical analyses and aesthetic developments of RMDM architectes. A unique desire that gives substance and sense to all of their achievements, the multiple theaters of their structural and sensory experiments.

Very High Performance Apartments - Photo by Cecile Septet

Very High Performance Apartments - Photo by Cecile Septet

Very High Performance Apartments - Photo by Cecile Septet

Very High Performance Apartments - Photo by Cecile Septet

Tags: France, Paris

Category: Apartments

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