The "courée" housing
The project is a reinterpretation of a housing called «courée». This is a typical form of courtyard workers housing, often built in the industrial districts of the North of France during the nineteenth century.
The program aims to develop a modern approach of this theme. It focuses on a specific contemporary issue which is to limit expansion of the cities and therefore to enhance urban centers. The challenge mainly focuses on opening up that kind of habitat in order to offer a collective life in a space outside of the city.
The interior collective space is punctuated with daylight and views of the surrounding garden. The vistas open up the apartments. A gateway game is serving the various residential buildings and leads the alleyway.
Planters with diverse plant species improve the quality of life of this alley, thus creating a dynamic around the community.
Two typologies are available: a standard collective building giving on the street and two refined blocks of courtyard housing. The street-front building lines up with surrounding houses. Two volumes emerge and make the courtyard visible from the street. A cantilever volume on the rooftop emphasizes the architecture from the street.
The courtyard buildings offer crossing houses with high opacity on the alleyway and large windows overlooking the surrounding landscape.
