Conversion of an Above-Ground Parking Garage into 51 Housing Units
We firmly believe that preservation and reuse of the existing built fabric is the most committed and sustainable way to build the city. Over time, successive layers of uses and architectural expressions superimpose, shaping the distinctive character of Paris’s urban landscape.
Erected in two stages (1956 and 1964), the above-ground parking structure on Rue de Versigny stands as a single, five-storey volume anchored by an imposing reinforced concrete structure. Its street-facing facade features wide horizontal ribbon windows, creating a distinct visual break within the surrounding Haussmannian fabric. The project set out to adapt this emblematic structure into a mixed-use complex comprising 51 residential units (including 35 social housing units) and two floors of office space. Although the building is not listed as a historic monument, the design strategy prioritized the maximum retention of its primary structural elements, thereby achieving significant material savings while minimizing disturbance to the neighborhood.
The initial intervention involved carving out the core of the monolithic volume—which occupied the entirety of the parcel—to introduce natural daylight and restore floor plate depths compatible with residential layouts. Around this central courtyard, topped by a glazed roof illuminating the offices below, wraps a continuous layer of outdoor extensions for the apartments. Shielded by a grid of slender steel columns, these loggias provide an acoustic and visual buffer from the city. A two-storey vertical extension built with a concrete framework and timber-frame infill walls (FOB) completes the volume. It accommodates duplex apartments with private, heavily planted roof terraces accessed via internal patios, offering expansive views over the Parisian skyline.
A rigorous structural diagnostic of the existing frame made it possible to deliver generous, comfortable, and light-filled apartments despite the tight constraint of low downstand beams. On the street side, the design introduces a double-skin facade system: a generously glazed timber-frame wall is recessed behind the existing envelope. Nestled between the two layers are warm, sheltered loggias, with privacy maintained by the restored original concrete spandrels.
The architectural language focuses on revealing and celebrating the original facade’s concrete, which had long been concealed beneath a layer of cement coating. Given the advanced degradation of the surface, in-depth material analysis was conducted, followed by meticulous patch repairs and selective structural patching. Across the rest of the project, the material palette remains deliberately restrained: champagne-anodized sheet metal—used for cladding, window surrounds, and folding and sliding shutters—delicately offsets the raw concrete while reflecting shifting light into the core of the city block throughout the day.
This marks a new chapter in the life of the building. Having served successively as a multi-storey garage and a workshop for vintage car restoration during the design phases, it now hosts a vibrant community of residents across social and open-market housing, actively weaving itself into the evolving narrative of the neighborhood.
