Cité manifeste, Mulhouse

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Cité manifeste, Mulhouse

Mismatches Location Cultural suitability Diversity
Urban Design Urban fabrics Environments Quality Liveability Inclusion
Promotion and production Private promotion Innovation

Main objectives of the project

This project of 14 dwellings, part of a larger development of 61 units by five architectural teams, aims to provide high-quality, spacious homes at standard costs, continuing the legacy of the Mulhouse workers' housing estate. Utilizing a simple and efficient loft-inspired structure, it features a concrete post-and-beam base supporting greenhouses made of galvanized steel and transparent polycarbonate. The greenhouses include both heated and ventilated areas, incorporating bioclimatic comfort solutions. The overall volume is divided into 14 duplex apartments, each benefiting from the unique and varied spatial qualities of the design.

Date

  • 2005: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Architect: Lacaton & Vassal architectes

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Mulhouse
Country/Region: France, Mulhouse

Description

This project of 14 dwellings is part of a larger development of 61 units, designed by five teams of architects, continuing the legacy of the Mulhouse workers' housing estate. The aim is to create high-quality homes that are significantly larger than standard ones at the same cost.

Initially, a simple, economical, and efficient structure and envelope are constructed to define, on the loft principle, a maximum open surface and volume, offering contrasting, complementary, and surprising spatial qualities. On the ground floor, a concrete post-and-beam structure supports a platform at a height of 3 meters, onto which horticultural greenhouses are affixed. The structure is made of galvanized steel, with transparent polycarbonate walls. Part of the greenhouse is insulated and heated, while the other part serves as a well-ventilated winter garden with roof and facade openings. A horizontal shade extends inside the greenhouse.

The greenhouse concept, with its automatic climate control systems, has enabled the development of bioclimatic comfort solutions. Subsequently, the volume is divided into 14 duplex apartments, each benefiting from the diverse qualities offered by the varied spaces.

Neppert Gardens Social Housing, 59 Dwellings

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Neppert Gardens Social Housing, 59 Dwellings

Financing
Urban Design
Promotion and production
Ownership and tenure

Main objectives of the project

The project is located in Mulhouse in a popular district close to the city center, currently under renovation. It includes 59 social rental dwellings developed by SOMCO, operator on public social housing. A few years after the Cité Manifeste experience, our common goal was to pursue the same aims: generous dwellings without increasing the rent.

Date

  • 2015: Rehabilitación

Stakeholders

  • Architect: Anne Lacaton
  • Architect: Jean Philippe Vassal

Location

City: Mulhouse
Country/Region: France, Mulhouse

Description

3 blocks of 20 dwellings that are built along the two streets; Neppert and Buhler and define a collective small garden in the middle.

The aim of the project is first defined in terms of quality of living :

- to create dwellings with surfaces bigger than standard.

- to offer additional and intermediate spaces with characteristics that differ from traditional rooms in an individual house and that widen the possibilities for usage, the diversity of spaces and the climatic conditions.

- to bring the collective housing close to the qualities of an individual house in developing outdoor spaces that extend the indoor rooms.

- to optimize the number of dwellings in comparison to the plot capacity in order to develop an efficient project economy that allows to create the largest possible surfaces for the housing.
The objective shared with the client was to create an innovative project with typologies that differ greatly from standard. The aim is to create a diversity in housing and a social mix, an attractive housing scheme in an area that is little sought after.

The flats, from T1 to T5, offer various plans and typologies of one-storey and duplex apartments.

The housing units offer surfaces that are nearly twice as large as a standard dwelling but nevertheless within the same budget. They offer living spaces in a dense urban environment that are comparable to those of a house.

The density, the maximum use of the right to build on the site, the combination of typologies, the effective construction system along with collaboration with the developer have all combined to allow for this generosity in space whilst also creating a large number of dwellings.

All the flats are dual-aspect. The living rooms, (south east orientation and a 10m wide façade), open on to a terrace that can be fully closed in winter.

These winter gardens, largely open in summer, define a bioclimatic system with a wide natural ventilation.

They offer an extra space supplementary to the living rooms, like a private garden.
The efficiency of the structure is the key point in the economy of the design that allows for the creation of oversized surfaces without an increase in construction cost.

The 3 buildings are designed on the same principles of construction: a post and beam structure with reinforced concrete slabs, using prefabricated elements. The 10m grid, without intermediate posts, defines the width of the dwellings and allows for the creation of large spaces that are not constrained by the structure.

The facades consist in fully glazed sliding framework and are equipped with thermal curtains and shading devices.

The winter gardens are closable in winter with the use of aluminum framed shutters clad in transparent polycarbonate. These are sliding shutters that come to stand on one side of the balcony.

The bioclimatic concept performs in terms of energy saving and fulfills a good standard of low energy construction.

The winter gardens create an intermediate non-heated space that plays a very active role in the thermal efficiency. They improve and naturally moderate the normal external conditions by creating a buffer volume, very favorable in terms of energy saving.

Mulhouse, France

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Mulhouse, France

Mismatches
Policies and regulations
Urban Design

Main objectives of the project

Toa Architects, victorious in the Europan 3 competition, secured a contract to design a youth hostel funded by Mulhouse Habitat and the PUCA. The "experimental project" prioritized architectural flexibility, creating a transformative space that seamlessly transitions from private to communal areas, promoting resident autonomy and social interaction.

Date

  • 2003: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Architect: TOA architectes

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Mulhouse
Country/Region: France, Mulhouse

Description

After the Europan 3 competition, the winning team Toa architects get a contract for a young workers hostel, financed by Mulhouse Habitat and the PUCA (Urban Planning, Architecture and Construction) with 82 bedrooms, common areas and public facilities.

The “experimental project” label and the great involvement of the client allowed architectural dispensations and the possible interpretation by the team of the rules in order to create a mixed space where uses would have the ability to modify relationships between people.

The architecture operates like a filter, expressing the gradual movement from privacy to sociability, at both individual and group scale. Two buildings are positioned parallel to the street: the first, lower building, accommodates the communal spaces that are open to the districts, together with the spaces representing the institution; the second, three-storey building, is set back, and contains the living areas and communal spaces associated with the residential function. A basement level garden organises the relation between the two buildings and offers an intimacy space, protector, more private.

The centre is designed to give the resident’s choice, the meeting or avoidance, balance between independence and communal living: choice in the residential access routes to the living spaces, choice to live at home or to enjoy sociability spaces, choice in the housing interior of several configurations through the interplay of dual-position swing doors.

The housing units also reflect the variety of demand, ranging in type from maximum autonomy to maximum communality. All aimed at favouring random meetings, internal evolution, the passage from solitude, to life as two, as, couple, a family with children: “maisonnette”, single rooms, paired rooms, adaptable rooms for couples or single-parent families, shared apartments for four residents.

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