Puzzle

To destroy or not to destroy large housing developments? Our answer has always been that we should start by finishing them. This new building is part of a site rehabilitation and paradoxically it is a final step. This is because although it means the destruction of the low-rise buildings, the new layout plan contributes above all to freeing up boulevard Maurice Ravel which is therefore completed by this prolongation. It can now fully exercise its function in the flow of people and traffic of the Sablon district.

This route is reinforced by the vistas that our project opens up. It is enhanced by the new Bloch-Lainé public square which will become the nerve centre of the Sablon district, a square with a human face that our project addresses in a friendly manner with its informal template. These vistas and the defined public spaces created in the front and at the back of our plot help to open up and give air to an area that already has a life of its own with its shops and public facilities.

The template of our project is that of the plot. This multi-faceted structure becomes an urban hub that will promote a transformation of perceptions and a shift in scale. It is the marker of the urban renewal in which it is participating. This small complex of 35 housing units falls outside the nomenclature of the buildings that currently make up the district. Its silhouette is that of a large house and it projects a familiar image.

The project contributes to the diversification of residential types through its template which is somewhat peculiar in the surrounding landscape: a five-storey building with an attic that gives it a unique look, recognizable to all. The building’s architectural style, especially its balconies with their organic shapes and its mesh, introduces disorder and diversity. In particular it breaks with the perpendicular layout of the neighbouring buildings while its curves join up the perspectives. It displays four facades, all different from each other and partially concealed behind protective cladding and all visible from different points of view. This mesh gives the project a kinetic dimension and the building is transformed according to the light, weather and time of day. Our building echoes a delicate urban music which evokes a unique ambience.