Housing units and creche, Paris
In the first half of the 20th century, rue Docteur Blanche in western Paris was the site of some of the finest modernist residential projects: Le Corbusier’s Maisons La Roche-Jeanneret, mansions by Robert Mallet-Stevens, or Résidence de la Muette designed by Jean Ginsberg and Georges Massé.
It is in this laboratory of modern comfort that COSA is testing certain aspects of the biggest issue in early 21st-century French residential architecture: regulations.
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The building is aligned on the street, up to the maximum height allowed by existing urban regulations, and then – taking advantage of new laws intending to expand construction rights – extends to merge with the profile of its neighbour’s exterior wall.
In its vertical development, the building releases a visual opening to the landscaped core of the block, designated a “protected green space”. The project revives the spirit of the “villa”, the private residential lanes typical of western Paris, which mark their presence on the street with impromptu eruptions of luxuriant vegetation.The 58 housing units are located above a base that houses a creche. On the lower floors, the apartments are organized around loggias, which provide privacy. Higher up, the running balconies widen to form a promontory that extends to the south and towards the view. This forms an architecture that is uncomplicated and spare, an architecture of use and of residential pleasure, made up of running stone balconies passing wide bays protected by vertical louvre blinds, enlivened by the motion of curtains.
At nightfall, the facades of 42, rue du Docteur Blanche live to the patterns of its residents. Interiors fleetingly reveald, warm light filtering through blinds and curtains…. perhaps a form of domestic eroticism.
SPECIFICATIONS
CLIENT
RIVPLOCATION
42, rue Docteur Blanche Paris XVISURFACE AREA
4 250 sqm
180 sqm outdoor areaPROJECT MANAGEMENT
Architect: COSA
Team: Théophile Marmorat, Pierre-Louis Castro Noémie Marechal, Géraud Pin-Barras with Émilie MouchelStructural engineering: Bati Structure Ouest B.S.O
Fluids engineering: Progerep
Thermal engineering, environmental approach: ATPS
Acoustics : J.P. Lamoureux
Economics: ECBSCHEDULE
Ongoing studiesPROGRAMME
Building of 58 housing units, a 25 cribs creche and a 92-space 4 levels under-ground car park
BIM Level 2 project
ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH
NF Habitat HQE v3.2 certification label
Paris climate plan
Effinergie + certification label