Architecture that follows history. Bel Air Residence by DLW Architectes | About architecture and more
Project description by DLW Architects
Cozy and individual house in the urban center of Saint-Nazaire.
In a former public car park, the social rental building offers a new version of individual housing.
Interaction between collective and new ways of living.
In Saint-Nazaire, the Bel Air residence is discreetly integrated into a small two-lot space. The process establishes a dialogue with the core of the building, a network of old houses, and with Republic Street, an important axis of post-World War II reconstruction.
Bel Air Residence designed by DLW Architectes. Photography by Simon Gosdon.
The program consists of two buildings of different scales.
The highest one, at R+6 (17 houses), faces the street; The other, more modest, is divided into R+3 (4 houses), by levels, with the old single building.
The separation of these two blocks allows the generation of a residential access threshold to the inner courtyard, at the heart of the building, which is characterized by a preserved hackberry tree.
At the back of the plot, behind the communal garden, there is a single-storey volume that takes up the form of garden sheds. Six trunks and five private wine cellars complete the property.
The overall organization, after the overlapping permutations of the floor plan, allows each apartment to have a double-height hallway, without losing sight of it. Water fountains take advantage of natural lighting.
Bel Air Residence designed by DLW Architectes. Photography by Simon Gosdon.
For each tenant, this intimate courtyard is like a new room, an additional exterior.
Expressing and open, a large hall with raw material forms a gap between the street and the small communal garden.
The ambiance is simple and soft, almost Japanese.
Access to the property through stairs flooded with natural light is also individual.
Bleached Douglas fir cladding and concrete frame: the Bel Air resonates naturally with the tone of downtown Nadir.
Bel Air Residence designed by DLW Architectes. Photography by Simon Gosdon.
The clarity of the facade planes enhances the boundaries, and the folds of the masses allow their location to be adjusted in relation to neighboring buildings.
– All facades are treated with external insulation without thermal bridges.
A communal garden surrounded by a bench creates green space.
Private gardens accompany the ground floor accommodation.
The project highlights reuse. The garden wall bricks come from bitumen crushed in the old car park. When applied raw, it becomes a nest for seeds and you watch the weeds grow.
