118 . FERNAND AYRES
The project involves the rehabilitation of two stone buildings located at the corner of Place Fernand Lafargue and Rue des Ayres, in the protected area of Bordeaux.
Similar in their materiality, but very different in their compositions, the two constructions stand alongside each other, as if interwoven in time.
Each is constructed as three floors above a commercial space, but the slope of the street and the heights of the floors influence the proportions. The building at the street corner appears to rise and dominate this urban sequence. Beside it, the one facing the square is smaller in size, but allows for the possibility of an extension in this highly constrained site.
We wanted it to be contemporary, both understated and discreet, yet also clear and expressive. Using the same material as the levels that support it, and in a composition that respects them, it crowns the building with a very simple system of posts and beveled lintels. This is a way of highlighting the work of light and shadow carried out by our predecessors, and of situating us in continuity.
With the structure restored, this complex will once again be inhabited, in the form of low-rent social housing. Inside, the work consists of revealing the constructive qualities of these buildings, long smothered by layers of materials added over the decades.
The stone becomes exposed, lending its inertia to the apartments. The oak parquet floors are dismantled and then restored, also taking the opportunity to address acoustic and fire issues between each apartment, before reinstalling them. Taking advantage of the high ceilings, we propose simple and practical layouts to make these small urban apartments as spacious as possible.
