Location and program
The project is located on lot H, at the entrance of the Zac Alstom Confluence in Saint-Denis. The general development plan was designed by ANMA. It is a triangular plot bordered by rue du Port au Sud, rue Charles Michels to the east, track 2 to the north, and the so-called Jardin de l'Avant-Scène to the west. The site benefits from a unique corner situation which marks the entrance of the new district and participates in the definition of the "Skyline" on the street of the Port. Its particular geometry induces an elongated L-shaped gauge, the height of which varies with successive terraces ranging from R + 6 to R + 4 and then R + 1. The project thus offers a natural gradation towards the Jardin de l'Avant-Scène.
The program, of about 4000 m² shon, offers 44 units of free accommodation including 3 units of social housing. These functional and luminous apartments are distributed by two distinct cages (North and South) and have different typologies and surfaces. Approximately 500m² of business and commercial premises are located on the ground floor, favoring the programmatic mix in the district.
Strategic challenges
1. Successfully integrate the building into its site while offering a remarkable object.
2. Draw quality housing for the inhabitants by offering a flexible and evolutive organizational principle.
The urban fault
From the atypical geometry of the site flows an L-shaped volume, inevitably inducing a zone of inoperative shadow in the North.
We react to this constraint by creating a North-South fault. This gesture has several advantages for us: - Allows the light of the South to the heart of the plot. - Open views of the garden of the Avant- Scène and the terrace planted in R + 1. - Detach a built-up volume garden side of a more domestic scale, which is more like a pavilion.
inhabited roof garden
At the closest to the urban theme proposed by the charter of the agency ANMA, the project participates in the design of the new landscape under construction and develops an architecture of roofs. The slopes have been carefully designed to offer a pleasant and aesthetic silhouette. They have beautiful proportions volumetric, and an ideal slope in the south for the integration of solar panels to produce domestic hot water. At the heart of this large roof, we offer a common terrace on the top floor with panoramic views of the distant landscape.
The set of facades
The project fits into the site and offers two expressions of different facades reacting to their immediate urban context: - An «urban» facade that follows the boundaries of the plot and which is declined along the three main streets. -A façade of «hanging gardens» in the heart of the plot dialogue with the Avant- Scènegarden. The «urban» facade holds the building on three angles. It develops a remarkable metallic drape, alternating full and empty spaces, transparency and opacity. Its dynamic rhythm participates in the perpetual movement of the city, playing on a vocabulary of loggias and big scale perforations. In addition, we choose to treat a façade of «hanging gardens» in the heart of the plot, creating surprise and astonishment for the pedestrian. Totally oriented towards the garden, it proposes a calm and timeless writing. The set of openings and vegetated balconies that operate there contributes to the tranquility and serenity of the place. The base of this facade also receives a multitude of plants giving the impression that the garden climbs up on the facade, and extending on the terrace in R+1. It also initiates the grading of green roofs and contributes to the coherence of the urban landscape.
The prow, a remarkable element in the landscape
We intend to highlight the prow of the building by making it visible and identifiable from the parvis of the train station. The movement of slender roofs as well as the large loggias of the South facade give a strong signal. At night, the facade disappears and the piercings light up ... Like a small urban theater, the building reveals all its interiority and shows the activity of its occupants.
Housing units
The project presents a compact and rational organization of housing units, led by a reflection on the themes of privet live, sharing, and flexibility. It aimes a space appropriation by the inhabitants. The north / south orientation of the building is conducive to the conception of East / West flats. This organization is made easier by the proposal of an exterior corridor on the east side of each of the two volumes. Real generous spaces of transition (1m70 width) between the public space of the street and the interior of the dwellings. They integrate furniture (storage boxes) as well as flower boxes making it easy to distance the entrance of the houses. The private outdoor spaces of each dwelling are developed towards the west, and benefit from, on the one hand, an optimal orientation of sunshine and, on the other hand, a clear view of the garden. A regular grid allows the planning of duel aspect apartments of type T2 and T3 in the center of the building, as the edges are occupied by large apartments of type T4 and T5. This allows those units to benefit from a triple orientation and an angle loggias offering clear views.
Interior organization
The units are duel aspect: the entrance and the open kitchen located to the East, the living room and the master bedroom to the West. A balcony with a generous depth of 2m extends the living space of the living room to the outside. The large apartments type T4 or T5 offer a closed kitchen, a separate block for wet rooms, and integrates a master bed room with an adjoining bathroom.
Sustainability, generosity and responsibility are the first of the values carried by Atelier Krauss Architecture.
Considering each command as unique and no ready-made recipes, is the definition of the work philosphy of the workshop. Respecting the world of its clients, it is first of all the spirit of a place that it seeks to reveal in order to respond as closely as possible to a programmatic and functional demand. To be a part of time, a project must be able to find its precise place and assert itself as a contemporary element interacting with its urban and also social context. Whether new construction or rehabilitation, the approach can not be fixed, the challenge is to find the catch that makes sense. It is all about getting to the essential point, assuming the simplicity that goes with a form of evidence and the motto of the agency could be «Simpler is better». From this point of view, it attaches great importance to details which, by near or far vision, contribute to the coherence and elegance of a building. If listening and reactivity are part of its demands, the workshop also believes in establishing a real dialogue with its clients, convinced that it constitutes an architectural and human added benefits. Dealing with various scales and programs - whether a public facility, a private housing unit or the recent social housing in Saint- Denis - the most important attention is hold on an inventive and generous look which considers that architecture is first of all made for the others.
