This corner building embodies a position as much as a playful exploration of the fundamental questions of materiality, light, scale and proportion. Replacing an old house with the landmark building the intersection was calling for, the new development is composed very simply of a main volume aligned with the street and a double-height penthouse, an explicit reference to the artists’ studios that helped shape the reputation of modernist Boulogne.
Set within a heterogeneous environment of buildings from different periods, the project softens contrasts and establishes a strong yet harmonious relationship with the architectural history of Boulogne. It offers an in-depth exploration of materiality: a contemporary and poetic interpretation of simple stone masonry, in which the direct expression of the structure is enhanced by the interplay of shadows created by the folds and mouldings of the façade.
These are elementary yet sufficient devices, designed to produce maximum meaning and quality. The project reinterprets these fundamentals through the lens of pragmatic ecology, guided by three principles: economy of means, the appropriate use of materials, and the climatic quality of the homes.
ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH
The load-bearing stone contributes significantly to the apartments’ summer comfort through its mass and high thermal inertia. The apartments are also naturally well ventilated, as they are either dual-aspect or located on a corner. They benefit from effective solar protection through shutters that fold into the stone reveals.
Sourced from the Clocher quarry in Bonneuil-en-Valois, in the Oise department, the load-bearing stone façade significantly improves the building’s carbon footprint while also supporting the regional economy.
Certifications: RT 2012 -20%, NF Habitat HQE.
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSTALLATION
La Cascade is part of a vast series of images inspired by Sandra Rocha’s reading of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It is the result of a long-term photographic project in which gods take the form of humans, non-human animals, plants or natural elements.
This waterfall flows in the Azores, the artist’s native islands. Its image undergoes a further metamorphosis, becoming a ceramic wall installation in the entrance hall of a social housing building in Boulogne-Billancourt, the city where the artist has made her home.
From the earliest discussions around the architectural project, Sandra Rocha placed the building’s residents at the heart of her thinking, imagining their daily comings and goings and questioning what legitimate place an image might occupy within the building.
While the theme of water quickly emerged, the idea of allowing it to flow across the entire height of the entrance-hall wall developed gradually. Ultimately, the image, its scale, position and materiality all appear as natural choices. Both discreet and impossible to miss, this waterfall brings a poetic yet playful dimension to the sequence of entering the building.
