START-Ivry
Rethinking housing from the inside out: a new generation of social and private housing, where the dwelling adapts to its inhabitants – and not the other way around
START-Ivry sets out to redefine housing culture. It rejects the prevailing standardisation of housing production and responds to the growing diversity of contemporary lifestyles. It rethinks housing from the inside — starting from the resident — restoring the central role of the floor plan, and boldly reversing the conventional process by starting with architecture: the architect is selected first, and developers are then invited to compete. START embodies a genuine paradigm shift.
START stands for Social, Transformable, Affordable and Resilient Typologies — housing solutions that respond to contemporary life. Located in Ivry-sur-Seine, a city historically linked to architectural innovation, START paves the way for a new cycle of experimentation in housing. START is both a manifesto and a demonstration: it proves that much better housing can be achieved without increasing surface areas and within very constrained budgets. A pilot project. A vanguard.
Households today are increasingly diverse and dynamic — single-parent families, blended households, elderly residents requiring assistance, remote workers — while housing has remained largely standardized and rigid, serving developer logic more than the realities of life. START address this mismatch by creating housing that adapts to its inhabitants: dwellings can be enlarged in anticipation of a child; a kitchen relocated to make an extra bedroom; children’s rooms transformed into a studio; or a neighbouring unit purchased to extend the current one. Even in its initial state, the dwelling already accommodates a wide range of users and situations, placing residents at the heart of design.
START comprises five buildings totalling 288 dwellings, including social, intermediate, and market-rate housing, arranged to create a new urban skyline along the Seine and Marne rivers in Ivry-sur-Seine, Greater Paris.
The project offers a wide range of typologies, from studios to five-bedroom homes, including intermediate “plus” and “bonus” types. These are structured around three complementary frameworks: the 10 Adaptability Principles ensuring flexibility over time (divisible dwellings, groupable units, movable kitchens, balcony “plugs”, alcoves, modular rooms, etc.); the 8 Quality Principles ensuring spatial quality (double/triple orientation, naturally lit kitchens and bathrooms, usable outdoor space); and the 10 Principles for a Good Tower defining a positive, desirable density well integrated into its context.
Housing quality determines building form. The exceptional slenderness of the five towers (14 m depth, up to 56 m high) maximises natural light, ventilation, and views — 90% of dwellings look towards the Seine/Marne, 88% have double orientation, and 30% triple orientation.
Window positions, balconies, recessed loggias, and colour accents emerge from interior logic, generating façades that are varied yet meaningful. Concrete and red-painted surfaces reference Ivry’s architectural heritage, while colour coding reveals internal typologies.
Sustainability is approached broadly: a 20% reduction in energy use, low-carbon concrete for structure and façades, geothermal heating — and above all, spatial resilience. Homes can evolve over decades addressing social, environmental, and economic sustainability at once.
The project was made possible by the pioneering “Inverse Method”: the architect was selected first to draft the brief, and developers were then invited to compete in ateliers over eight months, based on the architect’s project.
CREDITS
Architect: Beatriz Ramo / STAR strategies + architecture — Author: Beatriz Ramo López de Angulo — Project Lead: Danae Zachariaki — Team: Efraín Pérez Del Barrio, Ivan Guerrero, Geoffrey Clamour, Syeva Roest, Javier Cuartero, Bittor Arrillaga, Maria Castillo, Iris Ramas, Marc Coma
– Landscape / public space: Bernd Upmeyer / BOARD, Bureau of Architecture, Research and Design
