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Architects: NOVO architectures
- Area: 400 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:David Foessel
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Manufacturers: Wienerberger, VMZINC
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Lead Architects: Simon Barthelemy, Iliana Genova
Building the increasingly dense city carefully. The project is located in rue Beausejour in Colombes, a suburb located northeast of Paris. It concerns the construction of three houses, in a residential-type district characterized by strip plots - the project plot, is only accessible by a short side of the plot, thus having a width of 9.50 meters for a length of 60 meters. This district testifies to the densification of the municipalities close to Paris, efficiently served by public transport from the center of the capital.
The city’s urban planning regulations also promote this densification: many plots that only had one house when the district was created are now being divided up and new construction projects are regularly emerging. The city regulations also require that each new dwelling include vehicle access - a provision that implies the creation of a service road per plot and threatens the high landscape quality of the plots in question. The major challenge of the project was thus reconciling a stated objective of profitability with a certain architectural ambition and maintaining the high landscape quality of the site.
A project in dialogue with the surrounding architectures. Certain peculiarities of the neighboring buildings inspired the design of the three houses, helping to fully integrate the project into its environment. The three houses first of all present templates close to the historic houses of the district, characterized by a certain verticality. This vertical character is explained in particular by the fact that the project, close to the Seine, is located in a flood zone and that the ground floors are traditionally raised.
The three houses also have a particular treatment of the attic levels, characterized by vast roofs and the presence of loggias giving a view of the distant landscape. Finally, the facades of the three houses are mainly made of brick, echoing the local building tradition. But the project, thus strongly integrated into its environment, is also distinguished by its simplicity. The project is thus characterized by an absence of moldings. The technical components - chimneys, roof outlets, Nantes gutters, and downspouts - are the only truly decorative elements of the project.
The project is also distinguished by its assertive monochrome: white-colored bricks for the lower levels and white-colored coating for the attic levels, light gray pre-patinated zinc for the roofs, and white-colored hardware elements. Strongly characterized by this monochrome, the three houses reveal and magnify their landscaped environment, the natural profusion of summer greens and autumn ochres.
Highlight the high landscape quality of the site. The entire project was designed to preserve the high landscape quality of the existing plot - one of the few plots still undeveloped in the district and to encourage the maintenance of the biodiversity characteristic of the place. The location of the buildings has been planned in such a way as to preserve the existing plantations as much as possible. The service road for vehicles was imagined to be partially planted.
Each accommodation also has a private garden, as well as a shared garden located in the heart of the plot, a real place for sharing the project. Suppose all the fences positioned at the boundaries of the plot have been kept identical, i.e. masonry walls. In that case, openings have been made there to allow animals, plants, fungal species, etc. to cross the land. All the fences set up in the heart of the land have been provided with openwork, and promote the development of climbing vegetation. 40% of the surface of the plot has been kept in the ground.
