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Architects: RDR architectes
- Year: 2021
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Text description provided by the architects. Located at the bottom of the Avenue de la Harpe, a stone's throw from the port of Ouchy in Lausanne, the building takes the place of a 1933 building that no longer met contemporary expectations in terms of habitability and comfort. The demolished building contained 50 cramped and dilapidated apartments.
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Although well integrated into the urban fabric, the 9.40 m deep building, distributed by four stairwells, presented a configuration that did not lend itself well to a renovation. This led the SCHL to plan its replacement with a new building that would make the best use of the building potential offered by Lausanne's General Plan of Occupation (PGA).
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The depth of the building has been optimized, and although the surface areas of the apartments are more generous, a greater number of affordable apartments could be created. The building houses 67 apartments - with 2 one-room, 25 two-room, 32 three-room, and 8 four-room - distributed by three stairwells over 7 levels. The three cores are connected to two levels of common underground parking with 34 car spaces and 11 motorcycle spaces.
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The roof terrace has been developed as a meeting and recreation area for the building's residents, thanks to funding from the CMHC's "Plus SCHL" cultural percentage. It includes a common garden with breathtaking views of the lake, games for children, as well as a 30m2 room that can be rented by the building's tenants.
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The building meets the swiss Minergie energy label. The project takes up the characteristics of the demolished building and several neighboring historic buildings - the expression of a base defining horizontality and regulating the relationship to the ground in a sloping street, the sobriety, and coherence of the materials and colors, the proportion of the openings, the cantilevered balconies, the expressiveness of the angles - while reinterpreting them in a contemporary manner.
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