VEI: Morangis retirement home

French architecture studio Vous Êtes Ici Architectes has recently completed a retirement home in Morangis, on the outskirts of Paris. Offering accessible rates for residents, the development seeks to become a democratic, high-quality facility.   With a Y-shaped plan, the four-storey building features a main public entrance where the two Y strands connect. The north side harbours service, deliveries and the employee’s entrance, while the south façade opens towards a private park. All floors are accessible from the central node, which links all of the building’s functions and patient units.

The architects sought to organise the plan according to a compact and rational planning, with an emphasis on opening towards the surroundings. Carefully framed views abound: living and main activity areas all face private gardens, which include therapeutically-themed spaces, a rose garden and several paths.

Corridors also include views of the outside, and are generously proportioned allowing residents to mode at their own pace. The third floor includes two large terraces, which, facing the park, function as a continuation of the interior spaces.

The building is clad in Siberian larch wood, each opening becoming a single element in a varied rhythm.  “Every time the outer skin is punched in to form a dent in the global volume this corresponds to a specific socializing space,” point out the architects. “Inner rest areas widely opened towards the park or the third floors terraces.” These “dents” allow for daylight to extensively penetrate the building.

The architects chose yellow as a predominant colour for the building.  The Morangis retirement home was based on an off-plan concept led by social contractor Axentia and private developer Immodieze. It was built with financial support from the Conseil Général de l’Essone, the Regional Health Agency and the town of Morangis.

Vous Êtes Ici Architectes: Morangis retirement home
Location: Morangis, south Paris
Architects: Vous Êtes Ici Architectes (A. Becker, J. Paulré, P. Pfulghaupt)
Contractors: Immodieze, Axentia
Program: retirement home with 91 rooms
Cost: 9,4 million euro
Completion: January 2013
Built area: 5,315 square metres, 46 parking units
Total area: 9,950 square metres
Collaborators: Dumez IDF (general contractor), FACEA (fluids engineering) LECARPENTIER (exteriors and landscape) SPOOMS (kitchen engineering) CAP HORN (acoustics) LAPOINTE (roads and water engineering)
Photographer: 11H45 Montrer l'architecture