39 dwellings
Anglet is a subdivision city, slowly formed between Biarritz and Bayonne. Today, this low density fabric is subject to a high real estate pressure. Each villa can potentially make way for an apartment building and two different logics oppose each other : the increase in density on the one hand and the preservation of individual pre-existing living qualities on the other. The client wanted to replace two pavilions by an apartment building of 39 units, creating a strong impact on the neighborhood. In this context, the architecture must invent new strategies to integrate itself into the existing situation.
We proposed a three-story building which shapes itself according to the constraints (neighbor conditions, pools, terraces) and opportunities (a nearby park). It inscribes itself in a both rational (economic) and natural way in this rich and complex environment. The building is superimposed on an underground car parking accessed from the entry of the plot. Thus, the free space surrounding the building becomes a garden just as in an individual housing model.
The apartments, all small, have large loggias that make it possible to offer exterior spaces all while responding to a local context.
2011
Architectural feasibility study, 39 collective dwellings in Anglet
Team : GRAU + 51N4E
Client : Kaufman & Broad Pyrénées-Atlantiques