Chassé Park Apartments

This apartment block forms part of an urban plan by OMA, which was focussed on preserving as much as possible of the open space of a former military base for conversion into a new public park, while creating a housing density similar to the one in the city centre. This was achieved by a campus model, in which very different building types are juxtaposed inside the park. Given the diversity of scale, typology and materials involved, the coherence of the plan is provided by the park.

The project consists of five residential towers on top of a parking ring, which surrounds a sunken inner garden onto which the entrances to each tower open. The light, transparent parking ring rises 1.5 m above ground level. The towers are positioned tightly together, each with its own orientation, their position relative to one another determined by factors such as outward and inward views, exposure to sunlight, the layouts of the parking ring and the inner garden, and the transparency of the composition. Three of the five towers have two apartments per floor, the fourth has one and the fifth has four. The varying relative position of the towers creates minor differences in ground plans.

The façades overlooking the inner garden are of white glazed brick to reflect sunlight, and have small horizontal windows. Other façades feature vertical windows alternating with anthracite prefabricated concrete panels with a slate inlay. The third type of façade consists entirely of glass panels, some with a concrete structural mesh behind the glass. The parking garage roof is of translucent polyester. Each apartment has a large winter garden, with sliding glass walls opening both outwards and inwards, which may be used as an external space, as an extension of the living room or as a separate room.