Description

Urban context

The ZAC Masséna block is part of a large urban conversion by Christian de
Portzamparc of a neighborhood near the Bibliothèque nationale de France. With a
high-density mix of housing, commerce, and services, it is intended to develop a
new form of urbanism. It is characterized by a relationship between individual
architecture and collective urban space that deviates from classical urban
planning. The large, autonomous volume is the basic model of the development
structure, in which close-set volumes of different lengths and heights vary
independently of the compass direction. ZAC Masséna is a striking component of
this plan, occupying the southern end of a block.

Ground-floor zone

The ground floor networks this hybrid building with the surrounding urban space
in a variety of ways. A specially designed courtyard, not accessible to the
public, creates a serene situation on the northern side for the entrances to the
upper floors. Two lobbies extend the full depth of the volume, thus making it
possible to enter the building from the street on the south and east. The
spatial zones between the passageways span two stories in places and house
commercial spaces that can be accessed directly from the street.

Building structure

This solitary building, which meanders in three dimensions, stands on a U-shaped
base that forms a courtyard and disperses into several towers as it moves
upward. It consists of a dense and yet permeable structure of variable
atmosphere – characterized by a play of proximity and distance – oscillating
between domestic intimacy and metropolitan urbanity. The hybrid building
includes forty-eight public housing units and office and commercial units as
well as an underground parking garage. Two compressed access cores lead via a
system of paths from the inner corridors and along the bridges that span the
towers to all of the apartments and to the two spacious roof terraces. These
communal open spaces on the third and fifth floors constitute a special
privilege in this densely populated part of the city, and they are reserved for
residents.

Facade

The meandering large urban form with its spatial diversity produces ever new
connections between the building complex and the surrounding urban space. The
patchwork of colorful fields reinforces the large sculptural form and hence the
urban look, creating a counterpoint to the intimacy of the facade of small
perforations.

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Originally published in: Ulrike Wietzorrek, Housing+: On Thresholds, Transitions, and Transparencies, Birkhäuser, 2014.