Site Liberté
Rosny Métropolitain
Flachat
Haxo Gambetta
Tolbiac
Gare de Lyon
Tower Batignolles
Eugénie
Millerand Bagan
Ney
Jean Lolive
Tower Part-Dieu
Rives de l'Ourcq
Vilgénis
Volta
Manuguerra
Roquepine
Stendhal
Epinettes
Charles Renard
Girondins
Olympiades
Olympiades
Olympiades
Description
Rehabilitating two of the towers in the Olympiades neighborhood means confronting the extravagance of an architectural and urban project with the unusual domestic scale of a building of over 30 stories. The neighborhood is dominated by eight residential towers: six towers for homeownership, whose chiseled concrete façades are undergoing heritage renovations, and two towers for social housing nicknamed "barcode towers" due to the verticality of their facades. Less attractive, yet they occupy the heart of the neighborhood.
Operating in pairs within the urban system of the slab, Anvers and London are also two quasi-identical sisters - differing by just one floor in height and a slight difference in length - that are commonly disregarded compared to the Holley towers under the guise of lesser architectural ambition they received during their construction. In seeking the levers at our disposal to enhance the image of these towers, it became evident to us that the architectural exploration of this twinning could renew their relationship with the Holley towers.
11,000 people live in the Olympiades neighborhood, approximately 7% of the population of the 13th arrondissement, and the Anvers and London towers together account for 585 housing units. The magnitude of these numbers almost obscures the vision of domestic scale. However, renovating these buildings is primarily a matter of comfort and quality of life for each of these 585 households. The quality of the pathways and the comfort of the accommodations are therefore at the heart of the project.
It was essential, first and foremost, to appreciate the value of the two towers. Such a rehabilitation project offers a unique opportunity to revisit the image of the buildings, and while the temptation to bring about radical change may be great, we believe that this project also carries the responsibility of not distorting a structuring urban landmark for the life of the neighborhood. The project thus developed in the interstice that opened up between the desire for change and the search for permanence, driven by the desire to transmit to future decades buildings committed to architectural quality and the comfort of the inhabitants.
Façades: Beyond Banality
At first glance, the façades of the two towers are of great simplicity, but upon closer inspection, each element is a little more complicated than it could have been, as evidenced by the curved thorns of the solid panels or the slight projection of the sills and lintels.
By exploring the details that constitute the identity of these buildings, we quickly questioned the justification of External Thermal Insulation (ETI) that would swallow up all the qualities of the existing facades. Thermal studies have shown that it is still possible to defend, as with the Holley towers, the quality of the raw materials, the molding of the elements that compose the façade, and the shadows they cast.
Recognizing the sculptural value of the concrete panels was therefore the first step of the project. We then focused on what could change to bring a new identity to these towers, through the contrast we would create between preserved elements and projected elements.
Relationship with the Ground
Our analysis of the two towers identified a significant area for improvement in their relationship with the ground. The Anvers and London towers are anchored at two levels: an elevated ground level at the slab and a street level infrastructure. The treatment of the base is thus an architectural subject with two facets, in the midst of which the slab is positioned as a mirror between the world of cars and the world of pedestrians.
At the slab level, the Anvers and London towers have something unfinished about them. The repetition of the running floors abruptly stops above wide porticos with an irregular profile. Affirming the scale and horizontality of the base is one of the key stages of the project and one of our boldest interventions in the composition of the facades. We drew from the nobility and simplicity of the bases of the Holley towers to redesign the excavation of the slab level and provide better readability of the scale of the building base, which takes on particular importance in the case of a 30-story tower. The profile of this brushed stainless steel cladding has been streamlined to highlight the transparency of the lobbies and various premises.
Program
Energy efficiency renovation
Client
Paris Habitat OPH
Team
Atelier Tequi Architectes
ITAR Architectures
VES
GTM Bâtiment
VES
IPS