PANACHE
In late 2011, we returned to Grenoble, a place of environmental experimentation with a previous project that made its mark on the ZAC de Bonne: the “Coming Out”.
This time, another challenge is tackled, the one of height – with the same desire to push the limits of experimentation with energy performance even further. To resolve the issue of thermal bridges once and for all, balconies had to be eliminated.
The question of thermal bridges excluding from the outset a balcony solution, what could be done to ensure occupants would have a rapport with the exterior, for which they had legitimate expectations in an apartment in this city of such extremes of temperature in winter and summer?
An additional objective, how could the distinction between upper “noble” floors versus lower “inferior” floors be achieved?
Separating the “balcony” function from the “dwelling” function seemed like an imperative, along with the stacking of the terraces on several levels on the roof, forming a sort of “green cloud”.
Furthermore, these 35-m² spaces add another area in full sunlight, reached by an elevator, equipped with a summer kitchen and sanitary facilities, thus allowing for a certain level of autonomy in relation to the main part of the apartment.
When the heat of the summer becomes stifling, these balconies will enable occupants to breath and dialog as equals with the Belledonne mountain chain. The green cloud is thus a new outdoor and quite out of the ordinary space that will be sold as an independent lot and a sort of second home.
Below, each apartment has a double orientation, with living rooms positioned at the corners with broad floor to ceiling windows.
