‘Shared Roofs’ ● Social and Community Housing and Nursery

Reinventing Paris: competition for innovative urban projects (winning project)

Ordener Street, Paris 18th arrondissement, France

Vegetable garden on the roofs

Hubert & Roy architects ● Michael Hackspill project designer and manager in charge of the competition ● Date of competition: 2015 ● Total gross floor area: 54 900 ft2 ● Construction cost: 6 000 000€ excluding VAT ● Perspectives by Olivier Donnet

Surrounded by high walls, the project site is a parcel of land, inserted into the middle of an urban block, with a narrow opening onto the street. The redevelopment of this former industrial site consists of creating three residential buildings containing 25 apartments, and the repurposing of an existing metal covered market located at the bottom of the lot into a nursery for 45 children. The innovative real estate transaction involves the future inhabitants and users participation at the start of the planning and design phases. The members of this group are linked by the desire to live together with a strong social and environmental motivation. Formed in association, they will autonomously manage the whole project upon delivery. The program mixes all generations, the inhabitants have diverse backgrounds and ages. All type of accommodations (rental social housing, publicly-assisted and market-rate housing for sale) are incorporated into one entity. Furthermore, it provides several shared spaces (community café, multipurpose-room, guest room and vegetable garden on the roofs) which will be opened to the residents as well as the whole neighborhood. A fair trade store and a full height gap created into the front building depth will be the focal point from the street. The architectural layout reverses the perception of an isolated site by creating an elevated public promenade that leads to the apartments and to the shared spaces. It extends along the plot from the street to the nursery’s playground, and from the ground to the roofs levels where everyone enjoys sunlight and panoramic views of the skyline. Urban farming is developed on the total roof area, and greenhouses are set up under the metal frame of the former covered market. These activities strengthen social bonds and fit into the city’s green corridor, thus contributing to the circular economy and protecting biodiversity.

View from Ordener street
Bird’s eye view of the vegetable garden on the roofs
Central courtyard: common spaces, participatory process housing
Greenhouses under the existing covered market
Public promenade along the roofs
A roof for everyone
Shared spaces
Gardening and farming on the roofs
Short supply food chain
Rainwater management
Site plan
Plan of the ground level
Plan of the second level
Longitudinal sections

Longitudinal and cross section of the nursery and the agricultural greenhouses
Cross section through the building on the street
The promenade all along the block

Publications

Exhibition and Catalog ‘Réinventer Paris’ at the Pavillons de l’Arsenal, Paris, February 2016