Start-ivry

An overview of projects, products and exclusive articles about start-ivry

Lise Meitner Square – Crossing of paths.

STAR-BOARD

Each wellhead requires a 15-metre-radius waterproof safety zone, materialised as an orange asphalt ring. (Image: during construction.)

The square’s design seeks to reveal, rather than conceal, the geothermal infrastructure at its core. (Image: during construction.)

Though shaped by constraints, Lise Meitner Square is ultimately a gift to the neighbourhood: a fully open, inclusive public space.

Three circular areas are designated as flexible-use zones—for sports, fitness, café terraces, etc.—and they are each materialised with a different treatment.

Project • By BOARD • Residential Landscape

Lise Meitner Square

Lise Meitner Square is part of the experimental housing project START in Ivry-sur-Seine, which includes five residential buildings. And yet, this square was not initially meant to exist. Its creation required overcoming major constraints linked to two 1,500-metre-deep geothermal wells on site—providing heating for a large part of the city— which originally demanded a fenced, impermeable and inaccessible zone. STAR-BOARD Such an arrangement would have seriously compromised the quality of life for the nearly 300 families living in START-Ivry. After long negotiations with the geothermal operator, we secured a 2,600m² public space—transforming a technical limitation into a meaningful urban asset. STAR-BOARD T... More

Narrative façades: window jambs follow a colour code reflecting the interior functions, while the colours of the loggias highlight the different parts of the tower.

Nicolas Grosmond

A new skyline for Ivry-sur-Seine and the river Seine. The thinness of the towers, the modulation of the heights and the permeability between the volumes allow for better views, multiple orientations, and a great diversity.

With a footprint of 13.5 x 16.5 metres, the social housing tower is the tallest and most slender of the five buildings.

The façades convey the richness and diversity of the interior typologies.

Each tower is structured in three distinct parts, creating three vertical readings to support its integration into three different contexts: the street, the city, and the sky.

Project • By STAR strategies + architecture • Housing

START-Ivry

Rethinking housing from the inside out: a new generation of social and private housing, where the dwelling adapts to its inhabitants – and not the other way around. START-Ivry sets out to redefine housing culture. It rejects the prevailing standardisation of housing production and responds to the growing diversity of contemporary lifestyles. It rethinks housing from the inside — starting from the resident — restoring the central role of the floor plan, and boldly reversing the conventional process by starting with architecture: the architect is selected first, and developers are then invited to compete. START embodies a genuine paradigm shift. START stands for Social, Transformable, Affordable and Resilient Typol... More