SANE architecture's building proposal in paris presents original spatial configuration

homes are the domain of slowly shifting fantasies and rapidly shifting needs. time generates forces which architecture cannot resist and must be able to adapt — technology, money, fashion, social behaviors and so forth. a time-related design will place SANE architecture’s building in a dynamic continuity: time and not space is considered as the main context in which the project is conceived. the reality of the proposal is understood in terms of the different temporal scales that allow evolution and adapt to change. this ambition of a building in paris that works as a temporal entity not just as a spatial entity brought the design team to organize the space according to the time spent in the building by the inhabitants.

SANE’s building proposal in paris seen from the train station

time becomes a new material for parisian based experimental studio SANE architecture‘s project: design as an open process, as an infinite act will be able to incorporate time into its finite organization. the building will be a dynamic system that manifests itself in different temporal-spatial configurations: homes for life, homes for months and homes for weeks. their trajectory will give rise to fluctuating situations of equilibrium.

the building will be a dynamic system that manifests itself in different temporal-spatial configurations

at the first-floor level a new kind of shared domestic environment reimagines the current requirements for ‘communal amenity’ in residential development. a group inhabiting the building on the long term will create a sense of community — they will have a house for life in the building. medium and short-term apartments — a house for months and a house for weeks — will answer to the more dynamic needs, a visiting relative, a short-term tourist. an innovative financial approach will allow the long-term inhabitants to finance their apartments while welcoming the shorter-term residents; this system will further contribute to the flexibility and adaptability of the building: in time the apartments can be decomposed and recomposed in different ways in order to best accommodate the inhabitants needs.

the apartments can be recomposed in different ways in order to best accommodate the inhabitants needs

the residential area of SANE’s building proposal imagines homes for weeks: a new type of personal space, responding to the global domestic landscape that has been created by services like airbnb. furthermore, housing for months: short-term residencies in the context of temporary work contracts, study visas or student semesters, a new form of rent, where a flat monthly payment includes not only the use of space, but all domestic needs attended by the shared spaces and the concierge. lastly, homes for life: long-term occupancies, suggesting intergenerational life and changing conditions of technological and physical capacities.

view from the residential terraces in SANE’s building

SANE’s building proposal functions on an almost ‘classical’ scheme. this layout consists of a parking area in the basement, and partially in the ground floor, commercial zones in the ground floor, a day care center, shared spaces and sports areas in the first floor with direct access from the green spaces. no social group can survive without informal contact between its members: the courtyard will function as a center of gravity of the building’s life. the life of the public space develops naturally on the edges: shops, services, shared spaces will be grouped in ground floor area around the core. a wooden amphitheater allows the inhabitants to rest on the stands and offers high points of view to observe the whole agora.

inhabitants are offered high points of view to observe the whole agora

the design strategy imagines the fragmentation of the capable volume in vertical volumes that align to the limits of the site. in order to provide optimal light in the apartments, the volumes follow a spiral descending movement that connects the ‘cœur d’ilot’ with the terraces. the manipulation of the vertical volumes however, somehow radically transforms their initial premise. an implied architecture of monumentality gives way to an articulation of domesticity. the structure and the building’s envelope are adopted as a given; its initial vertical segmentation is complemented by a second, horizontal segmentation that gives the buildings’ exterior a single, homogeneous treatment: a rough skin, formed through an alternating pattern of withdrawn ‘micro-serres’ and protruding loggias.

SANE’s representation for the protruding loggia

functional concept diagram

functional scenario illustrations

scale model — main entrance

scale model — kindergarten terrace

floor plan

section

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: apostolos costarangos | designboom