38 Social Housing Units

Avenier Cornejo architects designed an housing building featuring a vibrant brick facade, with an array of ornamentation that connects two expressions of Paris, that of the capital and that of the suburbs.

The 38 social housing units are located at the doorstep of Paris, along the périphérique beltway. At the edge of the capital and its inner suburbs, they look towards both the Clichy-Batignolles district and the new high court designed by Renzo Piano, and the greater Paris area. Inside and out, they embody the metropolitan issue of eliminating borders.

The building takes part to the composite fabric of Clichy-la-Garenne, starting by its street and its numerous buildings in brick of varied color, which emerged over time. To begin this dialogue, the northwest and southwest facades feature a dark red ‘Lucca’ brick full with vivid joints which, in addition to giving its name to the residence, signs the resolutely contemporary look of the building.

To render this brick facade even more vibrant, an array of ornamentation connects two expressions of the city, that of the capital and that of the suburbs. On the ground floor, facing the street, the facade alternates large spans of brick with glass-covered surfaces such as the entrance and the commercial space.

The units also entertain this ambiguity of rapport to the gigantism of the city or the intimacy of their street by opening to the heart of the lot through balconies and loggias, which hide behind the perforated metal, or through loggias cut into the brick facing the street.