Generalities The Chartres accommodation structure consisting of 80 small flats is located within the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Eure-et-Loir department’s site, in order to provide a full service to the students either in training or attending apprenticeship.
Intention
In this project, the CCI is at once supporting and investing in the business world’s dynamics. The architectural program directly comes out of it, as a symbol of this commitment.
Therefore, the residence occurs at the natural and very real edges of first professional issues, where teaching, training and guidance all meet, precisely at the point in time where questions about the professional future of oneself are coming up. This accommodation has to take the lead in showing and expressing skills of great hospitality and modernity, which will resonate with those of the firms. It must also express their willingness to commit to high environmental values.
The program finds itself in the new relation opportunities and connects larger and more up-to-date social scales. Through its modernity, it calls for multi-qualifying answers.
An environmental approach is associated with the project, especially in this case as the H&E certification (Cerqual) combined to the BBC label.
Project
The development of the program is consistent with the plot’s natural configuration. The site’s shape, as a result of it’s orientation, allows a beneficial development of the project with the best of bioclimatic aspects and sustainability considerations. Committing to this principle is committing to a larger and exemplary urban rehabilitation. It is also a way of getting anchored naturally into the site instead of breaking with its history.
The reception sequences and areas, as they are open, bright and meant for movement, are comfortable and conducive to both breaks and meetings between residents.
Regarding the accommodations themselves, various configurations must be offered, all consistent with the different stay durations impacting the use. A major issue was to encourage the comfort of a short stay during a vocational training as well as during a whole university degree.
A bipolar organisation of the living unit permits the flexibility needed for the different purposes implied. The wet rooms, that are the shower room and the kitchen, are gathered around the circulation space and define the entry. This formula appears to be an imperative to increase the value of the living room, since it can qualify as both sleeping and living spaces. This simple solution meets all the particularities of the differentiated use planned for the residence.
The accommodations are developed based on the same templates, consistent with their organization and offering an optimized opening on the environment. The whole setting provides views on the island that vary with the location of the apartments, each one showing different permeabilities towards the horizon.
The residence organization provides natural lighting and a great exposure to sunlight for all the dwellings. Flexibility of the accommodations’ interior arrangements is fulfilled. The residence’s overall tone is clear and the future colouring interventions will be developed according to the process of vegetation reinforcement that accompany the project.
Façades
Façades are bright in order to enhance the light’s quality. Outdoor spaces are vegetated (pine trees, maples, lobed-leaved trees and lying dry herbs…) and slices of irregular vegetation surround the parking area, reducing the perception of the parking places.
Lanes run slightly away from the façades and allow relaxation time, enjoying the residence’s gardens. The free part, which is also the widest part outside the extension and opposite to the parking spots, is given for recreation moments and welcoming the residents in the gardens.
