Raw Poetry

ITAR

This social housing development nestled on Boulevard Ney continually offers something that merits closer examination, producing harmony from imperfection, marrying curves with angles, combining the purity of white and depth of black… All with great sensitivity, delicacy and rare technical and conceptual mastery.

Ingrid Taillandier, ITAR architect : “The context was special as we started with an existing 1970s plot and the challenge was to really inhabit the boulevard and make it more dynamic… This type of densification has long been of interest to us at the agency.

We very quickly opted for brick as a reminder of the 1930 HBM affordable housing on the outer boulevards of Paris. We really like designing façades made of brick or terracotta panels which are so durable. We've also already worked with Terreal before on other projects. We’re satisfied with the products and technical answers obtained. Here, brick provides this really well-lit building with materiality, a lot of life and a rather lovely way of catching the sun, and all the imperfections from the hand-moulding

lend contours to the building. Of course, it also works very well with the curves. Indeed, we won the competition for this white brick idea and we then really stuck to the pictures from the initial plan, really pulling out all the stops. The installation, carried out by Bouygues Habitat Social, was handled with particular care. Producing perfect curves demands great know-how. The guard rails called for a specific type of work: we treated them like Moucharabiya- style lattice screens because, in addition to the aesthetic aspect, it’s also important in social housing to ensure these areas, which can be used as storage space, are screened from view. We also took care not to block out views and light for the neighbouring tower-blocks by creating buildings that seem to slide from one floor to the next: unlike a right angle, a curved corner allows a few extra centimetres of view.”

housing Ney-Poissonniers, Paris, FR - ITAR -Hand-moulded brick from TERREAL range