Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés Completed 3 Housing Buildings in the Athletes’ Village

Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés just completed three housing buildings in the Athletes’ Village in Saint-Ouen.

Photos: Sergio Grazia, Stefan Tuchila

The challenge is to enhance French prestige and the values associated with it, to celebrate hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

This ambitious mission reinforces the French capital’s driving force in the struggle against climate change as proven during the COP 2021 debates, and thus concluded in the final agreement.

Olympics attests to the passage of time, periodically revealing a snapshot of the world we all cohabitate. This notion of cohabitation is an opportunity to reflect on the urgent need for change and strategic development of durable and environmentally friendly building technics.

Brenac-Gonzalez & Associés’s contribution to this universal festival is the perfect occasion to showcase French know-how and the conscious shift in building strategies.

It all comes down to developing new construction techniques and researching innovative typologies for metropolitan domesticity by improving common and private spaces.

Opposed to historic Olympic villages, we aimed a ‘’long term’’ legacy to develop a comfortable family environment inside of the ‘’Grand Paris’’ dynamic. A relevant chapter of the design process was attached to rapidly and cost effectively transform the athletes’ apartments into residential ones.

The project involves 3 strategic buildings: plot 1 situated on the corner of the Quai de Seine and the Rue Agnès Varda, plot 5 located along the Maille Finot, and plot 8 standing on the Rue Agnès Varda.

The strategic importance of plot 1 resides in designing a unique silhouette resembling a ship’s prow, dominating the scenic Seine river with its generous white loggias.

This exceptional view is also offered to passers-by and visitors by the vast belvedere terrace on the lower level.

The plots 5 and 8 balance each other on both sides of the central public parc, while at the same time, integrating the alternating grid that structures the entire urban development.

This central garden, comprised of tall trees with subtle foliage, enables inhabitants to stroll about or relax in the shade of trees, sheltered from the turbulent city for a moment of peace and calm.

We developed a rigorous frugal architecture, deprived of ostentatious decorations, encouraging a more subtle narrative, sensible to individual apprehension.

Our inspiration came from the neighboring Cite du cinema, allowing us to explore certain details such as railings, windows, solar protections from a graphic standpoint.

Alternating glazed or matte finish terracotta tiles create large motifs on the façade. This vibrating pattern also recalls tartan grids, brick ornamentations of Meunier chocolate factories or of Jules Ferry schools. The texture is perceived differently, depending on the time and weather, reflecting light in vibrant and subtle ways.

Specific technical certifications were developed to respect the ambitious environmental standards, attached to mixed wood-concrete buildings and terracotta facades with prefabricated wood panels.

This project blends quality of life and city improvement while illustrating a 21st century architecture fueled by environmental ambition and human comfort.