Housing Complex Cornebarrieu
Construction of a housing complex of 103 private and social housing
GARDEN CITY
Located North-West of Toulouse, the Monges Croix du Sud neighbourhood (Bruno Fortier - urban architect, Frédéric Bonnet Obras - architect and Michel Desvignes - landscaper), is a site under construction that embodies the materialisation of a city in the countryside, where housing units are distributed around a vast public park.
Quality of life, built-up density and social diversity are combined here in order to reduce waste generated by the characteristic urban sprawl of the Toulouse metropolis.
The project aims to offer an alternative to housing subdivision.
ORGANISING THE SITE
The project is synthesised in various ways:
— Extending the afforestation of the hill
— Organising three stepped clearings supporting the construction and best fitting the natural topography of the site
— Building around a network of paths on the slope and neighbourhood units, between the housing block and housing unit at an intermediate scale.
— Distributing houses and their gardens harmoniously into the slope, so as to promote their privacy, sunlight and visual appeal.
— Organising a one-way service road to serve both housing and parking lots
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD UNIT
The "hamlets" organisation ensures a fair distribution of private area, outdoor communal areas, views and sunlight.
The neighbourhood unit, an intermediate scale between housing block and private house, offers the benefits of collective housing while preserving the independence of each unit.
The housing unit design derives from adding, interlocking and combining a cubic module in various ways.
The composition of each entity, taking advantage of the natural elevation of the ground, favours both optimum orientation (sunlight and views) and privacy (organisation of differentiated and controlled individual space).
The combinatorial modular system allows diversity by blending different housing typologies.
INDIVIDUAL HOUSING
The different types of individual houses are designed on the basis of a square module of 10 x 10 m, with the "L-shaped” housing opening on to its private garden and mixture of near and far views. These views are developed at one level for 3-bedroom housing, on a terrace for 2-bedroom housing and across a duplex for 4-bedroom and 5-bedroom housing. The perpendicular overlay of the latter building types creates covered terraces on the ground floor, effectively extending the living areas. The interior spaces are not partitioned, in order to optimize areas and volumes’ double height, and are easily adaptable to varied lifestyles.
Simple and practical, the housing space offers the optimal quality of an apartment, whilst possessing the qualities of a house, generous and easy to appropriate (indoor/outdoor).
ALLEYWAYS AND SQUARES
The network of paths (footpaths, alleys, small squares) meandering through the slope serves housing units and parking lots. These alleyways and small squares, varied and generous collective spaces, are designed as public places for community living. The project combines aspects of both private life and social life seamlessly providing an open living environment, which is easy to appropriate by the residents.
THE CONSTRUCTION
The project develops the traditional building techniques of an individual house (brick construction, coating and mineral paint, wood frame roof etc.).
The materials and their implementation express the intention of a simple constructive quality.
The project, designed for first time buyers and social housing tenants, affirms the priority given to quality living.
