urbanmakers

an architectural intensity worthy of a city center

Thanks to its alignment with the bordering lanes which creates a logic of streets, the central plot has brought about a change in the large district of Bellevue, breaking with the 1960-1970 principles of “free” planning which forged the identity of the place.
The project shows a definitely urban architecture: it clearly uses the codes of the “traditional” city: Sober, clear and mineral, its architecture evokes the consistency of the historical city.

The emphasis has been put on how perfectly the buildings have been anchored to the floor: on the sidewalks, the buildings touch the ground without base effect. The various entries are part of the ground floor architectural rhythm, staged with the same molding quality as the facades.
The architecture is based upon simple and rigorous principles: thin buildings, clear legibility of the structure, regular and sequenced design of the windows, large windows and rational use of materials.

In order to refresh the district’s image, the central plot is built with a noble material – white concrete – a kind of “contemporary stone” which evokes the buildings you can see in Nantes city center, in a chromatic game and a minerality which are very close to the Tuffeau stone of the Loire valley.
The upper floors show spectacular attics (recessed, both in plan and in elevation) in a set of emergences that rise in groups of two levels. The goal of this tiered organization is to decrease plumb effects on the pedestrian way and reduce the perception of heights. The silhouette orchestrates a harmonious transition in the heights: by playing with the three reference heights of the project, the “lower city”, the “medium city” and the “upper city” notions appear.

program 130 housings client CIF Cooperative and COOP Logis area 7 953m² cost 11.9M € work full service phase winning project, built label RT2012-10%, Ecojardin team urbanmakers architectes leaders, with THE architectes associated and d'ici là landscape architect development BIM