PROJECT REPORT: MIXED USE SCHEMES 43
floor of the existing structure has been retained – thanks to the robust 7.6 m structural concrete grid, the designers were able to place new multi-storey buildings at two locations of the plinth for the offices and social housing. As des Courtis says, the “slab-like” grid of the existing offices on the second to fourth floors “did not make sense” for its function, or for the new social housing, so these levels were removed, while the retail areas below could be retained. The new ‘commercial centre’ providing retail and F&B functions occupies the basement, ground, and first floor levels. The office levels are located in the upper storeys of a new space-efficient and flexible seven-storey block on the east of the site, which makes up part of the building’s main facade.
Over the west side of the plinth is the
new, relatively lightweight CLT social housing block offering 62 tenure-blind designed apartments and a kindergarten. Meanwhile the library, previously “relegated” to obscurity underground, now occupies a two-storey space on the other
ADF MAY 2023
side of the hotel, and is thus more visible and accessible.
Facade
The building now has a consistent street frontage along its main glazed facades, and more visual connection to the city around it, with large openings that frame sections of the activities within. More importantly, the aim with the facade design was to “make a statement about the diversity of functions, while also maintaining a consistency to the architecture,” says Pierre des Courtis.
The substantial facade along the Rue du Commandant René Mouchotte, containing retail, social housing, the library, and parts of the hotel, has been broken up in a very playful and lively way using a variety of different cladding tones, setbacks and overhangs, and balconies and windows. The eye-catching and sculptural arrangement of oversized frames breaking the horizontal lines of storeys affords the overall composition a successful combination of verticality and connection to the exterior, and even a
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CONNECTING TO THE CITY
The building now has a consistent street frontage along its main glazed facades, and large openings that frame sections of the activities within Images © Ossip van Duivenbode
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