Through its architectural work, Metaform has been striving to combine the advantages of a single-family house with the benefits of collective housing. Adopting this approach to a new residential housing project located in Luxembourg City, we proposed a design solution that would address the major concerns of spatial optimization in dense urban areas and at the same time strike a balance between the need for privacy and intimacy while enjoying the social and practical advantages of communal living.
According to the municipal building regulations and consent requirements, regardless of the particular topography, we were allowed to design a simple single-block building, with a double-storey flat basement. However, given the surrounding context, specific terrain conditions and the form of the plot, we recognizedthe possibility of an experimental approach to the integration of the project within the site.
The plot is situated along a particularly curved and steep street, with 10 metres of variable in height. At the back, the large garden belongs to a Natura 2000 Zone and presents three-century-old Beech trees that have been classified as national monuments.
All of these restrictions determined the initial shape of the building. Consequently, the design of the building responds to the specific urban context (small-scaled housing units on one side and large-scale apartment block on the other): it creates a subtle transition by splitting the main volume into six smaller, vertically shifted blocks. The use of vertical circulation enables several housing units to be distributed on each floor, each with direct access, and avoiding long, dark hallways altogether. In this way, the building is adjusting to its surroundings; it preserves the required volume and density, while nurturing the feeling of communal belonging, identity andhumanity.
Volume splitting and shifting have been carefully studied to respond to a need for natural light, opening panoramic views towards the landscape and the city and creating visual contact with the sky, while at the same time allowing for the residents’ privacy.
Apart from the idea to respect the need for intimacy of the residents, it is also important to create spaces where people can meet and interact, such as an indoor common area or a common garden, in order to encourage social interaction within collective housing. The communal nature of these common spaces involves pooling resources and sharing the costs of maintenance, providing all residents with a wide variety of benefits including affordability, comfort and an enhanced sense of social belonging.
A common shared indoor space is situated on the first underground level and is naturally illuminated by light shafts. Shared facilities such as a common kitchen, leisure room and games are all designed to bring value by improving social interaction and a sense of community living, on an individual and voluntary basis, while preserving the privacy and peace of others.
Material Used:
1. Facade cladding: Aluminum façade, REYNOBOND
2. Flooring: In-situ-concrete, no specific brand
3. Apartment doors: Oikos Project, white painted
4. Windows: SCHÜCO- Aluminum framed windows
5. Roofing: REYNOBOND
6. Interior lighting: XAL Meno round in the common spaces
7. Interior lighting:
Delta Light, WeverDucre, Modular, Begain the apartments
Special lighting installations by Jan Pauwels(Random light (random.be))
8. Interior furniture:
Cor, Vitra, Piet Boon
custom made by Inside, Arche du bois, Russo Concept
