The residential complex designed by Régis Roudil Architectes is comprised of long, narrow, linear volumes that take advantage of the site's spaciousness to create green areas and well-ventilated spaces within the block. All apartments have dual orientation and are organized around interior circulation routes that run along the central ring of the complex. Continuous balconies, glazed surfaces, and covered porches further strengthen the connection between interior and exterior, while the heart of the block opens onto a central park.
In terms of construction, the project favors warm and organic materials. Solid wood panels used as partitions provide privacy and texture to the expansive façade, while the vertical structure of the balconies addresses both thermal and functional criteria, controlling solar gain and creating visual filters.
Social housing by Régis Roudil Architectes. Photograph by Bastien Treille.
Project description by Régis Roudil Architectes
Located at the southern end of the ZACMonges-Croix du Sud in Cornebarrieu, thishousing completed by atelier Régis Roudil linksthe preserved countryside with the new urbanfabric of the ZAC. They constitute a point ofentry to the district. The transition from a naturallandscape to organic geometry and a gentle formof urbanisation integrated with nature is at theheart of the project, whose essence is defined bythe surrounding landscape whilst alsoarticulating the entrance to the southern end ofthe Zac.
Building horizontally and low (1- and 2-room flatson a base) enabled the integration of vegetationand the park into the same lots, and thus therepurposing of the grounds and the publicspace. Careful attention to the impression ofdensity structures the project.
Dialectic of a calm block of flats
On both ground and upper floors, the impressionof density is generated by the scale of the flatand its window. This building of collectivehousing, comprised of 2-room flats, has a linearfaçade of over 150 meters on the outer ring. Thearchitectural style of the façade aims to breakthe monotony of this volume’s mass. Flats arevisually separated from each other by solid woodpanels. These separations also serve tointroduce a domestic quality to a very longbuilding.
The project is built in a way that offers bothdistant and nearby views, with elements of thebrief facing each other as well. The relation fromthe housing towards the exterior is notably madepossible by broad glazed areas and balconiesrunning along the entire periphery of the building.This guarantees a form of intimacy whilst bathingrooms in light. For thermal and functionalpurposes, a dense framework of verticalelements is positioned along the length of thebalconies. All the flats enjoy double exposureand are accessible from the walkways along theinterior ring of the building.
Park in the heart of the city block
Greenery and organic materials fold into thecontinuity of the landscape project of the ZAC,thereby creating a pleasing density and openground. Building simple, straightforward, long,and thin volumes, taking advantage of thegenerous surface of the lot, has made it possibleto free spaces for grassy areas and well-aeratedplaces, enjoying the luxuriant nature and offeringmultiple uses.
Greenery is also included in this operation, withdifferent needs between the edges of the lot andits core. The architecture translates these needs,upon which they depend, to offer a sharedreading of the heart of the city block.
A lively and inhabited heart, this object can beunderstood from the street and thus orient thepublic towards the different spaces and entities.The interior opens onto two gaps and two broadsheltered porches connecting it to the centralpark of the ZAC, roadways, and gentlepathways. It takes on a bucolic appearance offorest glades, and can be seen through thepermeable ground floor, from the Rue JacquelineAuriol and the Avenue Henri Guillaumet.
