The two projects, the Alexandre and Riou sectors, are located on two plots on Avenue Clémenceau, surrounded by an assorted frontage. The two sites are served by minor roads and are located on a slope towards the avenue.
They are part of the Nanterre city urban planning framework which requires the reorganisation of the avenue’s frontage, careful urban development and high quality for future social and affordable housing.
Our proposal is based on the following architectural approach: Brightening up Avenue Clémenceau and integrating into the two districts through fragmentation and matching up the project levels.
On the avenue, the buildings are broken up by pathways or streets connected to existing roads at the rear frontage. These pathways brighten up the avenue and link it to the Riou and Alexandre districts by improving the natural lighting of these spaces, the flow of the pedestrian paths and the landscaping quality of the internal spaces.
Setbacks ensure that the entrances and private gardens of the houses have privacy; alongside the glass frontages of the shops and shared premises, they form a lively foundation at pedestrian level.
Overhead, the measured rhythm of brick façade openings, with varied attics in wood or zinc, ensures that the levels match with existing buildings, notably the individual resident housing.
This shaping ensures that the project façades facing on to the avenue are uniform thus meeting the urban renovation requirements imposed by the City.
At the heart of the block, the buildings are connected with walls or resident gardens. The pathways and passages leading on to the avenue serve the buildings and are connected to existing streets and paths.
Through their setback, matching levels and interplay between the terraces, the south façades inside the two units ensure uniformity between the project designs and the individual neighbouring housing, limiting buildings which are located directly opposite each other.
At the top of this framework, the building is high-quality and environmental: the light brown and grey façade brickwork is emphasised by attics in grey wood or zinc. The bays are made of wood and lacquered aluminium protected by the same kind of awnings. The housing spaces are mostly face two directions with south-facing grey solid wood balconies.
These shapes and colours blend into the area, with the development reinforced by a shared landscaped quality of life for future inhabitants and residents.
