urbanmakers

regaining its lost place

The requalification of the Dolmen residence, historic social heritage of the town of Saint-Nazaire, is an incredible opportunity for urban renewal in line with the modernization work carried out over the last decade. In close proximity to shops, education and culture facilities; this place has the same assets as if it were in the city center. Even if the residence is highly visible in the city, it is today set back from the city life. It was built by using the principle of free urbanism, that is to say according to an implantation that ignores street alignment. The buildings are not integrated, that is why we have work on how to reintegrate them in the city. The living areas in these buildings are smaller than the current standards. As a consequence, we have chosen to develop the outside surfaces in order to increase the housing potential.

To a certain extent, this search and its translation in generously projected balconies created our proposal’s architecture and identity.
In the foreground, the balconies look just like large white animated ribbons surrounding the buildings. Their variable angulations aim to capture light in multiple ways in order to break the extreme rigidity / repetition of the existing structures.

From the streets along the plot, it was essential for us that all the residence facades offer a living expression. That is why all accommodations seem to be moving towards city life. The surrounding fence also participates in the new urban scenography: the addressing of each building is now directly on the sidewalk.

program renovation, 59 housing client Silène OPH area 2 727m² SHAB cost 3.9 M€ work design-build, completed phase prizewinner project, currently in conception process label developed on BIM