Transformation of G, H, I Buildings, Grand Parc, 530 Units, Social Housing (with Frédéric Druot and Christophe Hutin)
Bordeaux, France · 2017
Photo · Philippe Ruault
A precedent for the radical transformation of modernist social housing through the addition of deep, prefabricated wintergardens and balconies, improving thermal performance and spatial quality.
- What we like about this project
- The sheer uniformity of the facade is subtly broken by the varied domestic items visible behind the glass of individual units.
Materials
- concrete
- glass
- polycarbonate
- aluminum
- steel
Visual identifiers
- wintergardens
- balcony-facade
- social-housing
- slab-block
- modernist-transformation
Style tags
- contemporary
- pragmatic
- high-tech
- modernist-renovation
Visual tags
- adaptive-reuse
- housing-estate
- facade-extension
- translucent-envelope
- urban-density
- Geometry
- Extremely long, slab-like rectangular housing blocks with a highly repetitive, horizontally layered facade of wintergardens and balconies.
- Facade system
- Prefabricated concrete balcony extensions with sliding glass doors and polycarbonate panels.
- Structural guess
- Post-tensioned concrete frame extension added to an existing cast-in-place concrete structure.
- Spatial scale
- Large-scale social housing complex consisting of multiple high-rise slabs, contrasting with the human-scale low-rise structures in the foreground.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct daylight casting soft shadows across the deep balcony layers and highlighting the reflective glass surfaces.
- Atmosphere
- A bright, airy, and highly ordered urban landscape showing the vast scale of collective housing.
- Environmental context
- Dense modernist housing estate in an urban neighborhood, surrounded by lower-rise institutional buildings and mature green trees.
- Spatial experience
- The massive scale of the housing blocks dominates the skyline, yet the deep, glazed wintergarden layers soften the monolithic concrete structure with a semi-transparent, active domestic edge.
- Composition rhythm
- A relentless horizontal rhythm of repeating glass panels and balcony slabs stretching across the entire length of the building.
- Style reading
- High-tech pragmatism / French contemporary social modernism
- Program
- Multi-family social housing
- Perspective
- Aerial/Site
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- concrete, glass, polycarbonate, aluminum, steel
- Visual identifiers
- wintergardens, balcony-facade, social-housing, slab-block, modernist-transformation
- Style tags
- contemporary, pragmatic, high-tech, modernist-renovation
- Visual tags
- adaptive-reuse, housing-estate, facade-extension, translucent-envelope, urban-density
- Geometry
- Extremely long, slab-like rectangular housing blocks with a highly repetitive, horizontally layered facade of wintergardens and balconies.
- Facade system
- Prefabricated concrete balcony extensions with sliding glass doors and polycarbonate panels.
- Structural guess
- Post-tensioned concrete frame extension added to an existing cast-in-place concrete structure.
- Spatial scale
- Large-scale social housing complex consisting of multiple high-rise slabs, contrasting with the human-scale low-rise structures in the foreground.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct daylight casting soft shadows across the deep balcony layers and highlighting the reflective glass surfaces.
- Atmosphere
- A bright, airy, and highly ordered urban landscape showing the vast scale of collective housing.
- Environmental context
- Dense modernist housing estate in an urban neighborhood, surrounded by lower-rise institutional buildings and mature green trees.
- Spatial experience
- The massive scale of the housing blocks dominates the skyline, yet the deep, glazed wintergarden layers soften the monolithic concrete structure with a semi-transparent, active domestic edge.
- Composition rhythm
- A relentless horizontal rhythm of repeating glass panels and balcony slabs stretching across the entire length of the building.
- Style reading
- High-tech pragmatism / French contemporary social modernism
- Program
- Multi-family social housing
- Perspective
- Aerial/Site
- Discipline
- architecture