Sign up   /   Log in
Sections
  • News
  • Architecture
  • Interiors
  • Design
  • Art
  • Archive
  • Products
  • Covers
  • Biographies
  • Architecture Firms
  • Sustainable Cities
  • Gallery
  • Design Stories
  • Domus for Design
Specials
  • Design Essentials
  • Modern Work
  • DomusAir
  • Milano Design Week
  • Worldesign
Magazine
  • Subscriptions
  • Digital Edition
  • Current Issue
  • Guest Editor
  • Digital Archive
  • Nordic Design
Seguici su
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
Lingua
  • it
  • en

Cité manifeste, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Mulhouse, France, 2005 During the Industrial Revolution, the SOMCO association was founded in Mulhouse to address workers’ residential issues. In 1853, it built terraced houses with gardens on single lots, with an average apartment size of 47 square metres, designed by engineer Émile Müller. The Cité manifeste was the first workers’ estate in France, and by the end of the 19th century it comprised 1,240 residential units on 60 hectares. On its 150th anniversary, SOMCO decided to adapt the estate to the needs of the new residents and the requirements of community housing, producing high-quality apartments for averageincome residents. Poitevin-Reynaud, Lewis-Potin & Block, Ban-de Gastines and Ateliers Jean Nouvel were invited to participate, along with our office. Together we worked on the development of the former Schoettlé grounds, each team having a long, narrow lot at its disposal. Altogether, 61 new apartments were built. Our experience guided us in constructing more spacious, open, free, bright, comfortable and cost-effective apartments than conventional residences.

Courtesy © Lacaton & Vassal

Cité manifeste, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Mulhouse, France, 2005 We started from a simple and functional shell-shaped structure, whose volume was then divided into individual apartments. The ground floor consists of a three-metre-high ferro-concrete structure and generous openable glazing. Behind the glass doors, special curtains combining insulation and external aluminium tissue contribute to thermal comfort. The structure also includes a greenhouse, part of which is insulated and can be heated, and the other part has been left as a winter garden. These two parts are divided by openable interior glass elements. Automatic ventilation flaps on the roof regulate the interior climate, while horizontal interior shading elements provide additional comfort. Stretching along the whole width of the tract, all of the apartments have two levels: a large area on the ground floor and a small one on the upper floor, or vice-versa. 
(from the architects’ project description)

Courtesy © Lacaton & Vassal

Cité manifeste, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Mulhouse, France, 2005

Courtesy © Lacaton & Vassal

Cité manifeste, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Mulhouse, France, 2005

Courtesy © Lacaton & Vassal

Cité manifeste, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Mulhouse, France, 2005

Courtesy © Lacaton & Vassal

Cité manifeste, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Mulhouse, France, 2005

Courtesy © Lacaton & Vassal

Cité manifeste, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Mulhouse, France, 2005

Courtesy © Lacaton & Vassal

Cité manifeste, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Mulhouse, France, 2005

Courtesy © Lacaton & Vassal

Cité manifeste, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Mulhouse, France, 2005

Courtesy © Lacaton & Vassal

Cité manifeste, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Mulhouse, France, 2005

Courtesy © Lacaton & Vassal

Cité manifeste, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Mulhouse, France, 2005

Courtesy © Lacaton & Vassal

Cité manifeste, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Mulhouse, France, 2005

Courtesy © Lacaton & Vassal

View Article details
  • Published 12 April 2022
Share
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • WhatsApp
Leggi tutto
Most popular
  1. 10 Italian architectures that can only be viewed from the water
  2. Italy built an ideal city in the 20th Century: then we forgot about it
  3. A Bauhaus villa on Lake Geneva is up for sale, built by the architect of DDR
  4. Wright’s unbuilt tower would dwarf the Burj Khalifa – and it was designed 70 years ago
  5. Discovering Milan on foot: the architecture of Porta Venezia
Sections
  • Architecture
Share
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • WhatsApp

Latest on Architecture

There is a Chipperfield villa for sale in Italy, as solemn as his museums

  • 16 July 2025
  • News

The many villas designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that are currently for sale reveal who he really was

  • 15 July 2025
  • Architecture

Italy built an ideal city in the 20th Century: then we forgot about it

  • 15 July 2025
  • Architecture

Zoo architecture: a tale through 10 “zootopias”

  • 11 July 2025
  • Architecture

Latest on Domus

The Centre Pompidou closes for renovation: all the temporary locations in Paris and around the world

  • 16 July 2025
  • Art

Nike GT Future was designed to rewrite the codes of basketball shoes

  • 16 July 2025
  • News

Grok, Elon Musk's AI: politically incorrect and with NSFW companions, now also on Tesla cars

  • 15 July 2025
  • News

Meet Ikea’s colorful, standalone speakers—no Sonos, all style

  • 15 July 2025
  • News
  • News
  • Architecture
  • Design
  • Art
  • Opinion
  • Archive
  • Products
  • Foreign Editions
  • Contacts
  • Biographies
  • Architectural movements
  • Buildings
  • Architecture Firms
  • Design Essentials
  • Urban stories
  • Gio Ponti
  • Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram

Editoriale Domus Spa
Via G. Mazzocchi, 1/3
20089 Rozzano (Mi) -
Codice fiscale, partita IVA e iscrizione al Registro delle Imprese di Milano
n. 07835550158
R.E.A. di Milano n. 1186124
Capitale sociale versato € 5.000.000,00 - All rights reserved - Privacy - Informativa cookie completa - Gestione Cookies