33 New and Rehabilitated Housing Units / Antonini + Darmon Architectes

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Text description provided by the architects. The project is located on a long, narrow strip of land partially occupied by a five-story building, in the traditionally working-class Belleville district of Paris. A significant piece of the neighborhood’s heritage and the site’s unifying building, it has been rehabilitated and its base hollowed out to allow passage.

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Backbone of the complex, the internal street is the structuring element that irrigates the project. It becomes a semi-private common space for all the housing units, where interaction and socializing take place. Aligned with the central passage, the new building “pierces” the existing building. 

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This effect is accentuated by the treatment of the facades: the five “small” houses and the existing building, given a matte white plaster finish, come to rest on a base covered with shiny white enamel bricks, a reminder of the neighborhood’s past. Paved with Parisian paving stones, the little street becomes a pathway for strolling, with vegetation planted along the new buildings and the adjoining wall. These features define the passage route and clearly identify access points.

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