17 Rue des Quatre-Cheminées Residence

 

©francoisbaudry

 

In January 2021, Déchelette Architecture won a competition launched by Seine Ouest Habitat et Patrimoine to design a building at 17 Rue des Quatre-Cheminées in Boulogne-Billancourt. The program is clear: to conceive a four-storey building with eight social housing units and a shop using a wooden structure that promotes the use of environmentally friendly materials The project stands out for its design, which is marked by simplicity. Déchelette Architecture takes great care to use as many unprocessed and biosourced materials as possible without compromising the comfort of the residents. To meet these ambitions, the architects have designed a building with a raw earth façade and a stone base on the street side and a wooden façade on the garden side. The use of self-supporting raw earth across four levels of the façade is a first for collective housing in France. 

 

The building is located at 17 Rue des Quatre-Cheminées, adjacent to the Billancourt market. Seine Ouest Habitat et Patrimoine (SOHP) asked the winning architects to create an innovative building that promotes the use of materials with a low environmental impact. To support SOHP’s ambitions and the experimentation with new construction methods, the city of Boulogne-Billancourt, which owns the land, transferred the parcel to the social housing provider for the symbolic sum of one euro. Déchelette Architecture was given full responsibility for the project, overseeing the design and construction management. The architects also guided the on-site teams in working with raw earth, a unique material.

 

The building rises five storeys, including a ground floor, four levels of apartments and a green roof. The building is structured around a central circulation core. On the ground floor, the building is divided into two independent, cross- hrough entities: the shop and the residential access. Passersby will be able to glimpse the garden from the street. The rear of the plot, often disconnected from urban space, is landscaped and connected. The staircase benefits from ample natural light facing the garden. Each floor has two nearly identical dualaspect apartments, with living rooms located along the street and quieter sleeping areas facing the garden. The street-facing openings, oriented southwest, are beveled to maximize natural light. The bedrooms, ideally facing southeast, are extended by sunny balconies. The dual- spect design of the apartments ensures abundant natural light throughout the day and effective natural ventilation. The building’s compact rectangular shape optimizes energy needs.

 

In a cradle-to-cradle (C2C) construction approach using low impact materials, the architects chose raw, bio-sourced materials. The use of concrete is kept to a minimum. Except for the ground-floor slab and the circulation core, the project uses three unprocessed and bio-sourced materials: stone, raw earth, and wood. The self-supporting façade is made of prefabricated rammed earth over four levels, resting on a stone base—an unprecedented approach for collective housing in France. The façade, designed as a monolith, was assembled in just a few days by stacking pre-dried blocks. Terrio, a young company specialised in the production of prefabricated rammed earth blocks, answered the call for tenders. They crafted and dried the rammed earth blocks in their workshop near Lyon, where the raw earth comes from. They also trained the general contractor, STM-LBTP, in the installation of the blocks on site. Using raw earth on the façade reduces the carbon footprint of the construction (23kgCO2eq for rammed earth versus 250kgCO2eq for concrete) and economizes materials through a principle of façade purification. Its thermal, acoustic, inertial, and aesthetic properties significantly enhance the comfort of residents in both summer and winter.

 

The building’s framing and structural elements are made of wood, incorporating high- erformance acoustic insulation panels made of wood wool. The organic character of the wood, more rural than urban, was chosen for the rear façade to create a dialogue with the landscaped garden. By using these raw, bio-sourced materials, the project’s carbon footprint is significantly reduced, as demonstrated by the operation’s carbon balance (PCE: 793kgCO2eq per square meter). The relevance of using these low impact materials has been validated by surpassing the initial lowcarbon objectives, achieving the highest level of HQE qualification at level 3.

 

All the building elements were prefabricated off-site including the concrete staircase, wooden structure, and rammed earth blocks which were then assembled on site, with the exception of the groundfloor slab, which was cast on site. Off-site prefabrication  significantly  reduced the construction time (by five months for the rammed earth alone) and thus minimized the risk of incidents while optimizing costs. All the rammed earth blocks were shaped in individual molds using a pneumatic rammer mounted on a gantry and dried in a workshop on the outskirts of Lyon before being transported to Rue des Quatre-  heminées, where they were assembled in one month by three masons. This corresponds to the installation of 12 to 15 square meters of façade walls per day. The speed of this technique reintroduces the possibility of constructing a raw earth façade in the city center. The ease of assembly due to prefabrication not only improves working conditions but also fosters innovation. It also enables a clean, dry construction site by limiting water runoff, waste, and noise pollution for the workers and the surrounding residents. A local housing provider, chaired by André Santini, mayor of Issy-les- Moulineaux, the public-private Seine Ouest Habitat et Patrimoine manages nearly 12,000 homes throughout the Hauts- e-Seine department, in the towns of Issy-les-Moulineaux, Meudon, Boulogne-Billancourt, Chaville, Vanves, Marnes-la- oquette, Ville-d’Avray, and Montrouge. As part of its public service mission, Seine Ouest Habitat et Patrimoine rehabilitates, constructs, and acquires new properties. It pursues a dynamic, environmentally conscious, and innovative development policy aimed at offering tenants comfortable housing in neighborhoods that meet the criteria for functional and social mix, close to conveniance stores and public transports.

 

Quality of life is the heart of Seine Ouest Habitat et Patrimoine’s concerns. Beyond the simple structure, the focus is on the functionality of the housing, creating welcoming and comfortable spaces where every detail is carefully considered to make daily life easier for residents. Seine Ouest Habitat et Patrimoine does not just build homes but strives to integrate them harmoniously into their environment. Special attention is paid to the ecological and energy footprint, as evidenced by the various  certifications and labels achieved by its projects, as well as its commitment to bio-sourced materials. Thus, Seine Ouest Habitat et Patrimoine is committed to improving energy performance while anticipating future climate challenges, ensuring that its tenants are provided with homes that meet tomorrow’s environmental requirements.

 

©francoisbaudry

ⓒ Salem Mostefaoui

ⓒ Salem Mostefaoui

plan

 

exonometric diagram

 

 

 

 

건축가 Déchelette Architecture

위치 France, Boulogne-Billancourt, 17 Rue des Quatre-Cheminées

연면적 350m²

준공 2024

대표건축가 Emmanuelle Déchelette, Philibert Déchelette

프로젝트감독 David Billard, Arpège Ingénierie

엔지니어링 Axoé

구조 STM-LBTP

건축주 Seine Ouest Habitat et Patrimoine

사진작가 Salem Mostefaoui, Lana Deluigi, francoisbaudry