The project is located on a typical Parisian plot, its geometry shaped by the alignment of Boulevard Ney and Rue du Poteau. This narrow rectangular plot extends deep into the block, with a triangular frontage along Rue du Poteau. The project completes an unfinished urban fragment dating from the early 20th century, creating a corner building at the intersection of Boulevard Ney and Rue du Poteau. The street-front building gives a new dimension to the entrance of the street, establishing a built corner and introducing a new reference scale for future developments.
Our initial aim was to establish urban continuity, with the building forming part of a coherent urban ensemble. We then focused on architectural continuity and on how the two buildings could engage in dialogue through their mouldings, textures, proportions and overall composition.
The project comprises two buildings arranged according to a traditional Parisian pattern: on the street, a vertical building adopting the scale and proportions of the buildings along Boulevard Ney; and towards the courtyard, a more modest building in terms of proportions, with simplified mouldings, but constructed using the same materials. At ground-plan level, two courtyards enrich the composition and articulate the relationship between the two buildings. The first, with a mineral ground surface and planted trees, creates a buffer between the commercial premises and the residential entrance. The second is more densely planted, providing privacy for the single ground-floor apartment and creating a transition towards the final entrance hall at the rear of the plot.
ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH
The project adopts a bioclimatic strategy based on the dual-aspect nature of most of the apartments, the search for favourable orientations, adjustable solar protection for the windows that also allows for natural ventilation, a high-performance building envelope, heat recovery from greywater, and photovoltaic electricity generation.
As part of the City of Paris Climate and Energy Plan, the project achieves a maximum energy consumption of 50 kWh/m² GFA/year and has been awarded the Effinergie+ label. The development has also received NF Habitat HQE Paris certification.
FLOOR AND WALL PATTERN
For this residential development, Julien Serve has conceived an artwork extending across the entire ground floor, taking the form of a courtyard paving pattern and a formwork matrix for the wall separating the site from the neighbouring plot.
The intervention transposes elements referring to a palatial architectural and ornamental heritage into an everyday setting. The project draws on two references—Versailles and the Alhambra—whose ornamental motifs the artist reinterprets and adapts to the project.
The paving of the courtyards and passageways, made from reclaimed paving stones in light and dark beige marble, takes up the design of the Cour de Marbre at the Palace of Versailles. It intelligently transforms a utilitarian feature into a striking artistic device, at no additional cost compared with conventional paving.
The formwork matrix for the wall along the covered passageways at the southern edge of the plot is based on an original drawing by the artist. On graph paper, he reinterprets the geometric forms of the ceramic tiles adorning the lower sections of the walls of the Alhambra, literally ennobling the raw concrete while avoiding the need for any additional cladding.
