Open side-bar Menu
 ArchShowcase
Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

Fort De Vaux in Paris, France by PETITDIDIERPRIOUX architects

 
October 28th, 2019 by Sumit Singhal

Article source: PETITDIDIERPRIOUX architects

Difficult context, quality housing

Adoma’s challenge was the construction of an apartment house with 71 units for young workers, standing atop a former parking garage beside the Paris beltway. A challenge whose main purpose was the creation of small but pleasant and quality units in a difficult urban setting. Comprised of a “signal” building which emerges from a “blade” building, the project’s location bordering the Paris beltway takes advantage of its particular relation between architecture and infrastructure.

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

  • Architects: PETITDIDIERPRIOUX architects
  • Project: Fort De Vaux
  • Location: 12-18 Fort de Vaux Boulevard 75017 Paris
  • Photography: PierreL Excellent
  • Contractor: Adoma
  • Cost (Excluding VAT): €3,9M
  • Floor Area: 19 289 ft2
  • Calendar
    • Competition: September 2014
    • Time frame: 24 months
    • Delivery: July 2018

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Location

The Ground floor+10-story “signal” building is located above an existing parking garage facing the beltway and takes advantage of the width of the access road to rise to the maximum height allowed by local zoning. The Ground floor+3-story horizontal “blade” building creates a gradual transition with the neighborhood to the west and behind the lot.

Construction solutions have been adapted to the presence of the underground parking garage. In particular, owing to the fragile structure and the economic decision not to demolish it, the garage cannot be used. Thus, a stool-type framework encloses and passes through it at only a few points in order to ensure that the foundations and the new structure rest upon stable ground. This structural configuration results in a simple and regular framework on the façade.

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Lot

The project is located on a piece of land belonging to Adoma that benefits from an existing underground parking garage which has lost its authorization for use as a garage. Standing beside the Paris beltway, the project has been slipped in next to a business school and serves as a link between Paris and Levallois-Perret, of which the latter’s limits run along the back of the lot. This Janus-like function of urban link inspired the building’s dual façades.

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Facades

Given the complexity of execution owing to the presence of the garage and the impossibility of blocking nearby roadways, the project was mainly designed to be built with concrete prefabricated elsewhere. Concrete elements were imagined for easy yet subtle assembly thanks in particular to a rabbeted framework design, which also endows the whole with a dignified ornamental appearance.

The limited load bearing structure frees up room for large bays all the way around the building, which are either treated opaquely with brick, or transparently with glazing, and which can be modified as the building’s uses evolve (lofts, offices, family housing units, etc.).

Though simple in appearance, the building’s design lends itself to two ways of perceiving it. The materials employed fit the softness of the lot’s context (concrete and brick in shades of gray). The skillful and nuanced treatment and color shading of these materials results in a common element accenting the large openings and indicating interior uses and qualities while also enhancing the building’s status as a “signal”.

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Housing units

Imagined for young workers, the apartments offer compact floor areas (64 studios and 71-bedroom units in a “parents/ children” configuration). This requires providing additional value to each apartment in order to ensure quality living quarters. In this type of program, comfort and wellbeing are achieved through the attention given to the common areas, as well as views toward the outside.A covered double height porch serves as the entrance to a large lobby at the base of the emerging building. In this same building, five units per floor are organized around corridors filled with natural light. The window arrangements alternated according to the floor in relation with the bare-bones structure opens many unique and far-reaching perspectives (the new home of the Tribunal de Grande Instance, the Eiffel Tower, broad landscapes, etc.). Apartments located in the blade structure benefit from views onto the garden located at the back of the lot, as well as wide corridors which can also serve as common areas.

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Image Courtesy © PierreL Excellent

Associes PPX_libre_de droits, Image Courtesy © Kevin Buy

FDV Axonometrie rouge, Image Courtesy © PETITDIDIERPRIOUX architects

FDV Plan masse, Image Courtesy © PETITDIDIERPRIOUX architects

FDV R+2, Image Courtesy © PETITDIDIERPRIOUX architects

FDV Coupe CC, Image Courtesy © PETITDIDIERPRIOUX architects

FDV Schemas, Image Courtesy © PETITDIDIERPRIOUX architects

FDV DETAILS, Image Courtesy © PETITDIDIERPRIOUX architects

Tags: ,

Categories: Apartments, House, Housing Development, Residential




© 2024 Internet Business Systems, Inc.
670 Aberdeen Way, Milpitas, CA 95035
+1 (408) 882-6554 — Contact Us, or visit our other sites:
TechJobsCafe - Technical Jobs and Resumes EDACafe - Electronic Design Automation GISCafe - Geographical Information Services  MCADCafe - Mechanical Design and Engineering ShareCG - Share Computer Graphic (CG) Animation, 3D Art and 3D Models
  Privacy PolicyAdvertise