LOT A5A2

Luc Boegly

• Architects

Located on the banks of the Seine, the site is part of one of the most privileged landscapes of Paris, and in a district south of the Austerlitz station which is undergoing rapid change.

VOLUMETRY /

The volume of the project results from both regulatory geometric constraints of size and prospect as well as urban prescriptions for the block drawn up by the Brenac & Gonzalez agency. The project thus consists of a base (R+1) which gives a pedestrian scale to the building. It is made up of two businesses and duplex housing overlooking the street and garden. On this base rest two developments, building 1 (R+11) visible from Avenue Mendes France which includes 55 intermediate housing units and building 2 (R+9) made up of 65 social housing units. The “canyon”, designed by town planners in the heart of the block, is an urban breakthrough offering a view towards the Seine.

HABITAT /

These two emerging buildings are faceted in order to minimize the visual and sunlight impacts in relation to each other. The bevel effects are accompanied by the treatment of protruding balconies and terraces allowing everyone to have an outdoor space. These complex shapes were a vector of typological richness in the distribution and organization of housing. The majority of accommodation benefits from a double or triple orientation and an outdoor space : loggia, balcony or terrace.

ARCHITECTURE /

The project offers two types of facades. The facades facing the street are finished in smooth, light-coloured coating in the colour of Paris stone. They are pierced by bays highlighted by frame elements custom-designed enameled ceramic. These bays are available in 2 formats, whose repetitive rhythm reflects the interior organization of the accommodation. In contrast, the facades at the heart of the block are expressive, very largely glazed and regular gold-tone aluminium overhangs and "pleated and undulating" balconies. The balustrades, clad in custom extruded aluminium tubes with triangular, concave and convex reliefs, add dynamism to the heart of the project in Paris stone color. The base frame is highlighted by a glazed terracotta cladding with triangular relief shapes designed specifically for the project.

The terracotta elements of the project, the cladding of the base and the window frames, as well as the metal elements, trumeaux and balcony railings, were designed with reliefs to add vibration and movement through the effects of folds, curves and counter-curves, reminiscent of a drape and reflecting the light gently. This work on relief was carried out using a single light colour that refers to the tone of the Paris stone. This monochrome highlights the silky or shiny finishes of the plaster and glazed terracotta, with textured or smooth effects to catch the light. In the background, the gold-tone anodised aluminium overmantels and bronze-tone blinds complete this harmonious range of tones.

HIGH ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY /

The FULTON A5A2 operation is H&E profile A performance option certified. It responds to the expectations of the Climate Plan of the city of Paris, with a level of energy performance equal to Effinergie+, that being RT 2012 -10%.

The energy efficiency of the building is based on its geometry, the treatment of its envelope and the construction processes used.

The building adopts a complex shape, taken from the ZAC lot sheet, whose compactness is a guarantee of energy efficiency. The south facades looking toward the interior of the block are very largely glazed and lined with continuous balconies, unlike the street facades which are flat and more closed. Thus, in cold periods, free solar input are maximized and envelope losses limited. In hot periods, continuous balconies obstructs direct sunlight on the facades, creating shade and prevent them from rising in temperature. The structure of the building is made of reinforced concrete, a chosen material for its durability, its acoustic performances and its high thermal inertia: the heavy interior walls retain heat in winter and coolness in summer. The building has external insulation. This arrangement, combined with the use of thermal breakers on the balconies, allows a global treatment of thermal bridges. The thickness of the mineral wool insulation is equal to the facade walls : 160mm. The insulation is covered at the base level with glazed terracotta cladding and with a smooth coating in the upper parts. Mixed aluminum/wood double-glazed exterior joinery present a good compromise between durability, thermal performances and aesthetics. The bays exposed to the sun are equipped with adjustable exterior sunshades, which offer effective solar protection without obstructing ventilation when the windows are open.

Heat production for heating and domestic hot water is garanted by a connection to district heating, half of the production is supplied by renewable and recovery energies. In addition, a heat recovery system from wastewater using a heat pump enables to preheat hot water and reduce energy needs. The controlled mechanical ventilation is of the Hyhro B single flow type. In this project, the creation of an island of freshness in the dense Parisian urban context was at the center of our preoccupations. The double-aspect heart of the block is open to the streets. It offers landscaping largely planted in the ground. The roof top on various floors are also green and planted with tall trees, to bring the presence of nature into the upper floors. The choice of plants and the landscaping design promote the plant and animal biodiversity so precious in the city.

LANDSCAPE/

The landscape can be read on all floors, it constitutes a façade element in its own right. This desire is accompanied by a wish, that of creating inhabitant situations, places of appropriation but also places of intimacy, protected spaces.

The garden crossing from east to west, slightly elevated from the street (PPRI rating), constitutes a breath of fresh air, a lush strip of shadow and light that catches the eye of passers-by.

Numerous circulation routes connecting the buildings together are accompanied by dense shrub plantations - alternating deciduous and evergreen foliage with discreet flowering - and groves of Saskatoon berry trees punctuated with Scots pines, creating a vast shrubby massif. These plantations - mixed with perennials with blue and white flowers and carpet - whose foliage changes with the seasons - constitute a sober and homogeneous carpet which highlights the residential buildings and reveals their architectural riches.

The landscape of the garden level extends to the upper floors; the plantations colonize every available space: balconies, terraces, roofs, creating multiple hanging gardens which benefit all the building's inhabitants on all floors.

MARBRE DE FULTON /

The creation of this work of art was born from the request of the project owner, ICF Habitat la Sablière, to keep, within the new Fulton block project, a memory of the old existing buildings on the block, those of the “Fulton city” built by the architect Daniel Michelin in the 1950s. The Marbre de Fulton is a creation by the artist Stefan Shankland, a horizontal sculpture created in the halls of each of the buildings in A5A2 block. Le Marbre de Fulton adapts the principles of local marble: an artistic protocol developed by Stefan Shankland. Marbre d’Ici is a concrete produced from the recycling of rubble from the demolition of buildings which is sorted by nature and color, crushed and sifted. Mixed with a hydraulic binder and water, kneaded and poured into layers or marbling, urban ruins and construction waste are transformed into a new noble material with high added aesthetic, ecological and heritage value. Le Marbre de Fulton was made from rubble gleaned during demolitions on the ZAC Paris Rive Gauche (Paris 13th) and by the methodical recovery of construction site waste from the Fulton buildings. Red bricks, gray concrete slabs and white ceramic facade elements were crushed and then integrated into the pouring of the liquid concrete screed on the ground. The marbling effects are obtained by manually mixing the different layers of colored concrete.

The patterns on the ground evoke in turn the meanders of a river, the aerial view of a liquid territory, geological strata in formation, vortices carrying debris, a magma of cosmic particles... Shapes and images which refer to the Seine and its floods; but also to the transformations of the Ile-de-France landscape shaped over geological eras by the accumulation of strata of sediment, by glacial erosion and by human action; or even to the demolition sites and basement excavations which preceded the construction process of the buildings currently in place. Le Marbre de Fulton is thus both a local recycled concrete and a universal matrix which takes us back to the mutations which shape the world.