A family resemblance. Sector E of the Athletes’ Village is first and foremost a family resemblance. As coordinator architect of the sector, CoBe has pre-written the main guidelines that govern the design of the various buildings while leaving some leeway to the individual designers. As such, the visuals of the CoBe project produced for the competition have served from the outset as reference images to represent the entire project in the sector. To ensure its total coherence, the family resemblance has been extended into the skeleton of the buildings, using a common construction method, based on a system of post-and-beams combining wood and low-carbon concrete.
Programmed reversibility, exemplary carbon footprint, massive use of wood, universal accessibility, harmonization of colors between buildings, etc. The common construction system of the buildings becomes the glue of all these ingredients, allowing each architect to cook the recipe in his way.
A new district. Embodying the most domestic part of the Athletes’ Village, Lot E is in line with the existing domestic districts of the city of Saint-Ouen. It draws its inspiration from the urban context to insert itself coherently into it and to enhance it. To ensure a smooth transition, it is divided into two parts:
• «The Villas» which complete the domestic suburban fabric of Old Saint-Ouen, composed of low-rise buildings, dominated by the presence of wood and lime plaster.
• «The Belvederes», opening onto the new central street, marking the entrance to a metropolitan area, composed of the tallest buildings of the operation, and marked by metal and terracotta dominances, that are strong historical markers and witnesses of past activities of the place.
Lot E2B: a homogeneous language. The three buildings designed by CoBe are located on the eastern edge of the Belvederes, at the crossroads of three major public spaces: Finot street, Ampère Square and the Coteaux Alley. This situation puts the E2B block in a central position. The project amplifies this figurehead through a homogeneous language of the three buildings (materials, rhythm, hue). A height game has been set up to respond to varied urban situations, placing the highest volume at the intersection of Finot street and the square and marking the entrance to the district.
A common plinth, consisting of structural piers of mass-stained fluted die-cast precast concrete and sandblasted precast concrete lintels, unites the three buildings of lot E2B. The entrance to the home, from the public space to the intimate space, is punctuated by quality common areas, maintaining a continuous relationship with the outside: a large hall leading through to the heart of the block, a large and naturally lit corridor on the first floor. A direct relationship is established between the dwellings and the outdoor spaces from the entrance, thanks in particular to diagonal views of the large windows of the living rooms and the long balconies.
The appearance of the facades is enriched by an interplay of the railings that oscillates between 45° and -45° from one floor out of two, creating a visual quincunx that is recognizable in the distance. Added to this is the presence of metal profiles running along all the facades which can be transformed into pergolas
