The Residence de l'Aqueduc is located in the ZAC Lenine in Gentilly (France) at the articulation of the central mall Lenine and the future Promenade des Aqueducs. The building, located at this strategic angle, affirms its slender and extroverted facade facing this exceptional landscape crossing.
The social housing of Opaly (Office public of the Habitat Arcueil-Gentilly), the project owner of the operation, constitute Lot A with the building "N1/N2" realized by Daquin & Ferriere Architecture Agency, "N3/N4" by A+Samuel Delmas Agency on the other hand. Daquin & Ferriere Architecture assured the general coordination of Lot A.
Arranged around a central garden, buildings N1/N2 and N3/N4 are connected from North to South which continues on lot C and organizes deep views from east to west in the islet from the walk of the Coulée verte.
They are positioned parallel to the Promenade des Aqueducs with a slightly bent geometry which installs a gentle relationship between the facades opposite. A superposition of trays with the folded geometry allows to generate generous and diversified external spaces where it is possible to take his meals in the nice season.
Semi-transparent polycarbonate volumes are slipped between the balconies. They offer a real extra space for the inhabitants, unheated but closed and ventilated naturally, which renews the uses.
Accessible from the balconies, they function as "huts at the bottom of the garden". Depending on the season, you can sit around a small table, grow plants, or tinker. At night they dress the building with giant lanterns on the scale of the city.
About the landscape
The interior garden was designed in consultation with SLG Paysage, a company in charge of landscaping in the Lenin ZAC.
He declines the theme of a hilly forest. The modeling of the ground consists of storm basins and hills to give more privacy to the housing on the ground floor. Plantations of beeches and mixing of perennial grasses cover the ground and give a forest spirit in the heart of islet.
On the periphery, fences in locksmiths are accompanied by a free hedge interrupted in certain places to offer pedestrians visual breakthroughs on the heart of islet from the public space.
A pedestrian walkway made of concrete poured in place leads, through the trees of the undergrowth, to the entrance halls of the buildings that are reached by crossing footbridges covered with a wooden decking.
*Credits
Location: Gentilly (France)
Area: 44132 sft / 4100 m2 SHAB
Budget: 8 000 000 Euros
Schedule: 11/2015
Client: OPALY
Photo: Hervé Abbadie