Nanterre Apartment Block, France Building, New French Homes, Architecture, Photographs, Architect

Nanterre Apartment Block: Housing

Residential Architecture: New French Housing – design by du X-TU Architects

12 Dec 2012

Nanterre Apartment Block

Location: Nanterre, France

Design: X-TU Architects

photo : Luc Boegly

Text from the architects, rather enigmatic…..indeed obtuse!

Tera 11 is born of a place, a cross, an overlooked,
with very emblematic
and very radical Wogensky prefecture,

He asked for a writing tertiary
be forgotten that the “domestic nature” ….
There followed a skyline inspired by distant cities,
Cutting with scissors,
which restores the domestic scale.
Facade tertiary ambiguous cloud
hiding houses, hyperactivity stages of its inhabitants,

For Tera 11 is a adventure offered to residents
For an alternate life, participatory
Facades greenhouses for lunch, cultivate,
Let the little one play, learn to soilless culture,
Vegetable gardens on the roofs to meet, gardening, find the sky
Many activities to share with neighbors,
And there is even the bees ….

photos : Daisy Reillet

Inserting volumes in the site: build a landscape

The architectural takes suggestions specifications and urban landscaping and wishes of a vertical fragmentation increased, and a breakdown in “skyline” of volumes. Thus we find:

– On the south side, a vertical fragmentation at the scale of urban terraces, which includes major flaws 6 to 10m requested. This vertical fragmentation reflected naturally in northern façade by real faults which let the light went on French provinces. – Along the latter, re-cut volumes are processed in two levels of heights: a foreground low across a neighborhood street and a higher background across the avenue terraces .

– The volumes are intersected vertically by faulting planted. These ‘traits cuts, the organization structure of the plan and provide transparency between the terraces and promenade French Provinces.

– The volume are connected at the bottom to unify the whole vertical and sit this landscape.

photos : Luc Boegly

– These are accented by vertical contrast material between the south facade and interior flaws. Indeed, the south facade receives over-continuous glass facade forming emissions in winter and natural ventilation in summer.

– On the spot, the volume turns stained concrete with a frontal balanced across the site.

– The colored shapes cut in hollow volumes including

– The assembly of volumes, vertical, horizontal and transverse shape the landscape, more or less fragmented, consistent in its diversity. All seems carved, sculpted in a common material.

– It draws a city skyline cut freely in the sky each volume grows in height according to their needs: it is a system born of the multiplication and the inclusion of individuals …

The radicality of the south facade responds to the imposing presence of the work of André Wogenscky prefecture.

photos : Luc Boegly / from architect

Nanterre Apartment Block – Building Information

Architects: X-TU – nicolas desmazières, anouk legendre
Collaborators : Project chief : nicolas jomain, joao saleiro, olivier busson, nada balazova
Client: Toit & Joie / Logipostel
Situation: nouveau quartier
Program: 167 dwellings + shops 765m² + art gallery 400m² + 194 parking spaces
Cost: 18,2 m-€
Total floor area: 16.460 m² / 12 levels
Contractors: cet [engineering] le sommer [ecological]
Achievement: 2012
Materials: prefabricated concrete, curtain wall, green roof

Photos: Luc Boegly, Renaud Dessade, Daisy Reillet

Nanterre Apartment Block information / images received from X-TU Architects

X-TU Architects

Location: Nanterre, France