Herold Apartments, Paris : Architecture Information

Herold Apartments Paris 2009 Jakob+MacFarlane PROGRAM OF 100 SOCIAL APARTMENTS ANCIENT SITE OF HOSPITAL HEROLD, PARIS PROGRAM AND CONCEPT The program is for a combination of different-sized apartments, the ground floor being designed for handicapped persons, and some shops at street level. In this project we had to create three separate buildings on fragments of left-over land that had been created from a series of different factors, such as site views, Hausmannian setback rules, preservation of ancient trees, unbuildable land rules... After understanding how difficult these requirements would be and how they would impact on the site, we decided to create these buildings more as resultant elements from the urban space. Conceptually we proposed a huge urban matrix in three dimensions, with the imagined floors generating the increment, we then went through a careful cutting and coring of this matrix with the above series of forces acting as provocative devices until defining the finished project. A series of filters on deep planted loggias, permit wind or sun protection. ENVIRONMENTAL CONCEPT In this project we followed as the environmental procedure Qualitel with the label Habitat and Environment, profile C, Cref-8. The apartments are facing several orientations, with double orientation most of the time and similar in superposition in all of the levels. The apartments are distributed by large exterior walkways which offer by extension, a new public space for each apartment. The apartment type is adapted to a bioclimatic concept adapted to the different seasons. The rooms orientated to the north have small openings and a greater thermal isolation to the outside. Facing south the living rooms and bedrooms are glassed floor to ceiling giving to a generous balcony protected by the overhang of the balcony above by at least 2m. In winter time, the balconies can be used as WINTER GARDENS, by an exterior transparent store made of ETFE. This system is conceived to entrap the free calories produced by the sun and thus warm the rest of the apartment space. SOLAR THERMAL PANELS mounted on the roof, produce 65% of the hot water for the bathrooms. The landscape space is conceived in three layers i.e : ground floor public garden, private balcony garden and facetted roof scape integrating solar panels. The project is thus the result of urban and ecological rules taken as the conceptual starting point and alternative determinators in the creation of a new urban housing response. JAKOB + MACFARLANE Herold Apartments Paris images / information from Jakob+MacFarlane 040209 Photos © Jakob+MacFarlane; Nicolla Borel Photographer