56 Social Dwellings

2- The gently sloping north–south site lies within a new urban development and offers a broad panorama of the wooded hills to the south. The partially underground parking and the ground floor, occupied by retail spaces, form the base of the two main buildings, which are topped by split-level duplexes. Between the lower and upper streets lie terraced houses with single-level patios, a row of L-shaped houses, and a sequence of other terraced apartments built in a head-to-tail arrangement. To the west, a three-story building encloses the residence’s central garden.

3 The project’s development during the competition phase greatly benefited from a collaborative process involving the architects and the project owners. Among the options that diverged from urban planning regulations, cars were not allowed to access the heart of the site to reach houses with garages. All dwellings therefore have parking spaces on the periphery, beneath the apartment buildings. The typology of patio houses, built back-to-back to protect their private gardens, allows for optimal use of the central area of the plot. The intermediate layer of L-shaped houses and split-level duplexes, accessible via straight exterior staircases, also eliminates the need for elevators and reduces the project’s shared circulation areas. The result is a protected residential enclave, clearly identifiable by its constructive materiality, characterized by the systematic use of solid brick and hand-crafted, red-ochre-toned tiles.

4 On the primary structure of the buildings — load-bearing walls and floors in reinforced concrete — the envelope consists of a double wall combining a timber frame with distributed insulation and handcrafted solid brick. The houses are built entirely with a timber structure and wood framing. They are clad in Douglas fir around their patio gardens and use the same brick for their exterior walls. The roofs have a timber structure, covered with terracotta tiles for the houses and zinc sheets for the buildings. The exterior joinery is made of oak, fitted with low-emissivity triple glazing, and the shutters are made of Douglas fir. The central garden, partly landscaped as a vegetable garden, also serves as a retention basin. Heating is provided by a wood-fired boiler. The project meets the RT 2012 -20% performance target and has been awarded the NF HQE certification. The envelope materials, in addition to the architectural tectonics they create, provide excellent durability.