5.5] Redevelopment of Parisian railway station, Paris

5.5] Redevelopment of Parisian railway station, Paris

Figure 56) - Front view of the building

Former Parisian railway station turned into housing and live-work units. Moussafir Architects and Nicolas Hugoo Architecture have created two residential towers connected by a podium containing live-work units as part of the La Chapelle International development in northern Paris. Built on a former railway station in Paris's 18th arrondissement in the northeast of the city, the development occupies a city block. Moussafir Architects and Nicolas Hugoo Architecture each designed a timber, glass and concrete tower containing 105 townhouse-style apartments at either end of the development. In response to the master plan for the sevenhectare La Chapelle International development, which called for a uniform podium forming a base for two towers, 18 small live-work spaces clad in gridded-metal cladding were placed between the two towers.

Figure 57) – Floor plan of the complex

The street-level podium, which also contains common areas for the towers and two shops, displays the same orthogonal facade structure across the entire city block. The residential towers present greater aesthetic variation while maintaining overall consistency with the rest of the scheme. The taller G2 tower was developed by Jacques Moussafir's firm, while Nicolas Hugoo's studio designed the G1 tower to complement the facade it created for the concrete podium.

The hybrid premises containing housing and small workspaces are called Small Office Home Office (SOHO) units and are intended for use by artisans, small businesses and self-employed workers. The SOHOs aim to merge professional and residential spaces by applying a uniform material palette throughout the interiors. Each unit has a business entrance facing the street and private access from the communal area at the centre of the block.

Figure 58) – Section

A material palette featuring steel and aluminium surfaces creates a cohesive, industrial aesthetic across the inward-facing elevations. "We imagined the fifth facade as a new 'metal blanket' made of perforated and ribbed aluminium that seems alternately to be either extruded to form hipped roofs or stamped to generate patios and terraces clad with galvanised steel grating," added Jacques Moussafir, whose firm designed the SOHOs. The lightweight aesthetic is enhanced by the lack of visible structure on the building's exterior, along with the prefabricated concrete balconies that narrow at the edges. The building is organised around a compact

circulation core, with functional spaces situated closest to the centre to free up the outer areas for the living spaces and bedrooms.

Figure 59) – View showing façade elements Figure 60) – View of the interior and exterior connection

The building's structure is provided both by the central core and by the waffle design of the concrete facades. This configuration means that long spans are not required and frees up some of the corners. "Borrowing more from civil engineering than other current construction techniques, this expressive structure is built with concrete poured onsite with large dimension metal formworks," said the project team. Varying the orientation of the terraces allowed for the creation of four different floor plans across the ten levels. This arrangement also helps to break up the facades into a non-uniform pattern that expresses the positioning of each apartment. Jacques Moussafir founded his eponymous studio in 1993 and now works across various fields including cultural and residential projects.

Figure 59) – View showing façade elements Figure 60) – View of the interior and exterior connection