Architects: Barrault Pressacco
Project: Social housing units in massive stone
Location: 62 rue Oberkampf, 75011 Paris, France
Competition: Julie André-Garguilo
Studies: Pauline Rabjeau
Structure / Thermal Engineering: LM Ingénieur
The site
The site is located in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, where local vernacular architecture coexists alongside Haussmann renovations of the second half of the 19th century.
The form
The volume of the building derives from urban regulations and the orientation of the site. The densest part of the building is aligned with the street while the second part, located inside the block, is arranged in degraded terraces facing due south.
Stone: from material to resource
Stone is abundant in France and especially around Paris. Its use is environmentally virtuous and highly contextual, drawing on local resources and engaging the regional economy. Territory, city and architecture are thus united by this ancestral material.
The energy required to extract, cut and lay stone is limited compared to other materials. It undergoes little transformation and its intrinsic properties are preserved in the process. After being a geological layer, the stone becomes a resource, imbued with a new purpose and a new meaning.
Structure / hybridization
The construction of the building is hybrid, made up of different materials, each assuming a specific mechanical or thermal role. All the facades are in solid stone supported by reinforced concrete porticos on the ground floor. This juxtaposition recalls the tradition of Parisian construction, in which the materiality of the lower and upper levels was typically differentiated.
The thickness of the stone facade varies according to the degree of stress, with 35 centimeters on the first level and 30 centimeters on the upper floors. A metal frame associated with the facade reduces the load on the floor plates.
Hemp concrete, whose breathability is well suited to stone masonry, insulates the building.
Stereotomy and modenature
The science of stereotomy (the art of cutting and assembling stone elements) exploits the significant technical advances associated with the construction of cathedrals. For the architects of the project, an awareness of the life cycle of the stone – extraction, transformation, use, reuse – gives a new relevance to the architectural form and the construction details.
Unlike ornamentation by addition, the design of window openings proceeds by subtraction, inspired by the Haussmannian pursuit of an economy of means and materials. The modenature here invokes history to innovate. Text from author.
