herzog & de meuron

rue des suisses, paris, rue des suisses, paris, rue des suisses, paris, rue des suisses, paris, 1996199619961996----2000200020002000

http://www.housingprototypes.org/project?File_No=

FRA023

This is the first project in Paris by the Herzog/De

Meuron team on an unusual site in the 14th

Arrondisement not far from Gare Montparnesse.

The result of a 1966 competition sponsored by the

Paris public housing agency Régie Immobilière de la

Paris (RVIP), the project is built on three

interconnected parcels that include infill sites on

two sides of a long perimeter block that face a

long narrow plot on the interior of the block. The

infill buildings are built to the neighborhood height

of 7 floors, while the interior slab is only 3 floors

in height. Entry to the interior of the block is

made beneath the infill buildings. In addition to the

4 story difference in building height, the long

narrow block designed as a free-standing element

in a long narrow garden and is protected with

curving rolling wooden blinds that are in sharp

contrast to the folding metal blinds that cover the

facades of the street buildings. The three

buildings contain about 60 flats and basement

parking for about 50 cars is provided beneath the

infill block on Rue des Suisses and extends into

the courtyard beneath the interior building.

The street buildings are both point-access types.

The larger block facing Rue des Suisses has

several apartments per floor that face either the

street or garden while the narrow block on Rue

Jonquoy has only one flat per floor with frontage

on both the street and the garden. The long

narrow building is also a point access type that

has several entrances that serve three floors of

larger flats. The ground floor apartments are

organized with the living spaces and bedrooms

facing a narrow porch along the public walkway

through the garden and a narrow one story high

zone that contains the baths and kitchens that

attaches to the back side of the long block

forming small interior courtyards. Baths, kitchens

and circulation are organized along the rear side

of the flats on the two upper floors. Living

spaces here also open to the continuous balconies

that face southwest. Two, two story high gable-

roofed small houses are placed in the garden

opposite the two main entrances to the long block.

These tiny cottages also form several court areas

in the garden and help maintain a residential scale

to the arrangement on the interior of the block.

The street buildings are both point-access types.

The larger block facing Rue des Suisses has

several apartments per floor that face either the

street or garden while the narrow block on Rue

Jonquoy has only one flat per floor with frontage

on both the street and the garden. The long

narrow building is also a point access type that

has several entrances that serve three floors of

larger flats. The ground floor apartments are

organized with the living spaces and bedrooms

facing a narrow porch along the public walkway

through the garden and a narrow one story high

zone that contains the baths and kitchens that

attaches to the back side of the long block

forming small interior courtyards. Baths, kitchens

and circulation are organized along the rear side

of the flats on the two upper floors. Living spaces

here also open to the continuous balconies that

face southwest. Two, two story high gable-roofed

small houses are placed in the garden opposite the

two main entrances to the long block. These tiny

cottages also form several court areas in the

garden and help maintain a residential scale to the

arrangement on the interior of the block.

Vines grow on a system of metal wires fastened

to the blank walls of the garden buildings, help to

create an overgrown, unkempt ambience to the

landscape areas. The garden block sets up slightly

from the ground on an articulated base suggesting

a porch or veranda along the walkway through the

garden area. The roll-down blinds completely cover

the porch areas. While there is an obvious loss of

privacy along the ground floor apartments, the

slightly raised setback condition gives some

separation from the garden walkway. The upper

balconies cantilever out slightly forming an

undulating, slightly overhanging quality that

further softens the garden spaces.

The 7 story, point-access block facing Rue des

Suisses has undulating facades facing both the

street and the interior garden. The curved facade,

which is seen at the end of a long narrow street,

makes an easy transition between existing

buildings to either side but also emphasizes the

system of metal shutters covering windows

between floor slabs creating a continuous

screened surface. This system of folding grilles is

used on both street and garden facades and is

the latest version of similar shuttering systems

that have become a leitmotif of Herzog & De

Meuron designs.

When closed the shutters form a continuous grille

between the narrow horizontal bands of the edge

of the floor slabs that are the same color as the

shutters. The full-height, hinged shutters are

made of perforated, corrugated aluminum panels

that are supported by steel rods connecting

between floor slabs. These panels, 412 mm in

width (16") and 28 mm (1 1/8") thick, are secured

to the vertical support rods with stainless steel

hinges and are finished in a durable dark gray,

polyester powder coating. A narrow balcony and

steel balustrade separate the plane of shutters

from the floor to ceiling glass wall of the

apartment interiors. In the fully open position, the

shutters hinge into groups of 6 panels that

extend forward of the surface of the façade

creating discontinuous vertical bands that give a

highly structural albeit chaotic appearance to the

façade and help create the impression of several

compressed layers of materials: shutter,

balustrade, the space of the balcony and the dark

aluminum glass wall of the dwellings. This shutter

system extends from the sidewalk through the 6th

floor. The top floor sets back from the plane of

the façade and has roll-down metal blinds of the

same color that reinforce the reading of a distinct

attic condition.

Rue des Suisses is a good example of recent

projects in Paris that focus on rebuilding the

typical perimeter blocks in different areas of the

city while upgrading the quality of the housing

stock. While the apartments themselves are

typical small flats, the strategy to put the

smaller flats in the infill buildings and organize

the family dwellings together in the garden area

and the high detail finish of all three buildings

attest to the high standards of RVIP. The

sophisticated shuttering system used here

combines the traditional use of the window

shutter as a means to control light and provide

security and privacy with the need to adapt the

modernist concept of the glass curtain wall with

the contextual need to fit comfortably with an

existing stock of different buildings. While the

street facades undulate in plan and have a

vertical, folding shutter system made of metal,

the garden block has a south façade that

undulates in section and has a horizontal, roll-

down wooden shutter system. Finally, a sheer

glass façade might have been a harsh intrusion,

but the undulating, layered, shuttered system

maintains the wall surface while creating a

changing pattern of distinct, repetitive openings

like the neighboring buildings.