Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture

Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Exterior Photography, Windows, Facade
© Hervé Abbadie

Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Exterior Photography, FacadeVertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Exterior Photography, Windows, Facade, HandrailVertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Interior Photography, Living Room, Sofa, WindowsVertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Interior Photography, Table, ChairVertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - More Images+ 39

  • Project Team: Jacques Moussafir with Virginie Prié, Estelle Grange-Dubellé, Pierrick Fromentin, Mélanie Hébrard and José-Maria Goncalves
  • Fluid Engineering: Louis Choulet (with Thibault Charles)
  • Structure Construction: Lisandre
  • Electricity: Rok
  • Locksmiths: Kozac
  • Carpentry: Tischlerei Bereuter
  • Lifts: Oleolift
  • Exterior Curtains: Lenco
  • City: Paris
  • Country: France
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Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Exterior Photography, Windows, Facade
© Hervé Abbadie

Restructuring a modern building in the Haut Marais. This 10-level commercial building designed in the 1970s by the Biro Fernier firm is a rare example in this sector of France’s 30-year post-war economic boom. It is comprised of a 7-story reinforced concrete framework on top of a 3-level underground car park built with prestressed concrete technology - innovative for the period - an inverted vault supporting a suspended garden in the heart of the city block and a Mansard roof profile with 6 lucarnes crowning the building, the entire structure is made of shuttered concrete.

Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Hervé Abbadie
Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Hervé Abbadie

Although standing amidst a landmarked district composed entirely of protected historic buildings, local authorities (the ABF) determined that it had no heritage interest, thereby facilitating the transformation of both the interior distribution and its envelope.  

Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Exterior Photography, Windows, Facade, Handrail
© Hervé Abbadie

A neutral and generic structure. Like open-plan floors without intermediate columns, the principal quality of the original construction resided in its neutral and generic character. This overall grasp of the building’s structure-guided our architectural choice, from the insertion of interior elements (staircases, guardrails, floor, and ceiling coverings) to the design of the envelope by way of the choice of materials and the details regarding their implementation.

Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Interior Photography, Shelving
© Vincent Leroux
Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Image 40 of 44
Section

Thus, the staircases and guardrails, as well as the façades, were designed as features borrowed from locksmithing, most often suspended and dissociated from the concrete structure in order to highlight the loadbearing role of the original shell in relation to these “borrowed” features.

Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Interior Photography, Dining room, Table, Chair
© Hervé Abbadie
Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Image 32 of 44
Floor plan level 1

Flats like offices. Like the façade on the street, which has a pitch of 1m36, and the façade on the garden, which is 10 meters long and has no intermediate load-bearing structure, the rationality of the pillar and beam system enabled the transition from a single-purpose to a mixed-use building superimposing housing with offices.  Our decision to expose the structure provided the incentive to not differentiate the dwelling spaces from the offices and to design the flats like offices.

Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Interior Photography, Living Room, Sofa, Windows
© Hervé Abbadie
Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Interior Photography, Table, Chair
© Vincent Leroux

Modernist principles and brutalist aesthetics. In addition to demonstrating the multi-purpose aspect of an ordinary structure, our aim was to assert the relevance of the building’s modernist principles (open plans, grid, and façade open to the north, ribbon windows to the south) and to highlight its brutalist aesthetic by enhancing its materiality. 

Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture - Interior Photography, Kitchen
© Hervé Abbadie

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Project location

Address:5 Rue du Vertbois, 75003 Paris, France

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Vertbois Building / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture" 07 Jun 2023. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1002068/vertbois-building-moussafir-architectes-plus-inside-outside-architecture> ISSN 0719-8884

© Vincent Leroux

Vertbois 大楼 / Moussafir Architectes + Inside Outside Architecture

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