OFIS: basket apartments in paris

‘basket apartments’ by OFIS, paris, france image © tomaz gregoric all images courtesy of OFIS

in a narrow north-south site of 11 meters by 200 meters along parc la vilette in paris’ 19th district, slovenian firm OFIS has just completed the new ‘basket apartments’ student housing. split into two basic volumes, the 11-storey buildings contain technical andservice areas in the basement, public functions on the ground floor and 192 individual residential studios in the nine levels above, within a modular reinforced concrete and steel structure. along the eastern facade, high-density stratified timber panels wrap the balconies like crookedly stacked boxes, helping to shade the primary windows of the living units. the western facade contains the circulation stairwells and corridors, assigned to the exterior and covered in an undulating polygonal expanded metal mesh. the transparent facade provides the necessary safety for the outdoor hallways but also allows inhabitants to look onto the adjacent football field.

the construct was designed with special attention to insulation and ventilation, using its advantage in orientation for plenty of daylight and a controlled heat gain. the circulation reduces the need for artificial lighting and acclimated masses. apartments are heated in part by heat recovery from exhaust air, with 300 square meters of photovoltaic panels on the roof and an on-site water collection system to irrigate the gardens.

view from the street image © tomaz gregoric

cladding stacked like crooked boxes image © tomaz gregoric

balcony facade image © tomaz gregoric

image © tomaz gregoric

sky bridge connecting buildings image © tomaz gregoric

image © tomaz gregoric

lobby image © tomaz gregoric

entrance and reception image © tomaz gregoric

mailboxes image © tomaz gregoric

expanded metal screen over the entrance doors image © tomaz gregoric

image © tomaz gregoric

image © tomaz gregoric

exterior corridor to units image © tomaz gregoric

stair well image © tomaz gregoric

frosted glass separates two bedrooms image © tomaz gregoric

apartment balcony image © tomaz gregoric

apartment interior image © tomaz gregoric

site plan

floor plan / level 0

floor plan / level 1

floor plan / level 3

apartment floor plan

apartment section

section

elevation

elevation

axonometric diagram

model

project info:

location: 19th district, paris, france

status invited competition: 2008 construction start: 2009 completion: 2012 program: (student) apartment studios, common spaces, dining area, living space, storage
 details: low energy consumption building, 10 floor building with 192 studios client: regie immobiliere de la ville de paris
 area of site: 1981 m2; size of studios: 35 m2; building: 931 m2; gross floor area: 8500 m2; landscape: 1050 m2 dimensions: 29.20 m max height budget: 17.5 m € 
materials: concrete, glass, metal, plaster, high-density stratified timber panels, expanded metal mesh project team: rok oman, spela videcnik 
robert janez, janez martincic, andrej gregoric, janja del linz, louis geiswiller, hyunggyu kim,                       chaewan shin, jaehyun kim, erin durno, javier carrera, giuliana fimmano, jolien maes, lin wei structural engineering: integrale 4; bruno person mechanical & electrical engineering, sustainable development: cabinet mtc; cyril ganvert