Bordeaux, France
Guiraud Manenc + Gault Architectes’ social housing project named The Epilobs consists of the construction of 84 social housing units, divided into 7 buildings set on stilts with heights varying from R+2 to R+6, allowing a volumetric transition with the neighboring blocks.
“The Epilobs” project has been awarded a 2023 Future House Award by Global Design News and The Chicago Athenaeum Museum for Architecture and Design.
Built-in raw concrete, these masses of varied forms touch the common spaces with a field character and are naturally connected to Mussonville Park, a real urban forest.
The four blocks located inside the plot are accessible from four “green totems,” which integrate the vertical circulations. All dwellings have orientations that allow them to have optimal sunlight.
A large proportion of the homes are through- or dual-oriented and include generous loggias.
The entire project is built in unfinished concrete.
The railings with an expanded metal filling are galvanized steel. These materials reinforce the raw aspect of the project.
The majority of the parking (car and two-wheeled vehicles) is integrated into the building’s right of way.
Tapestry plants, trees, and bushes protect the edges of the structures and channel pedestrian traffic towards specific areas: two-wheeled premises, entrance hall, play areas, household waste collection points, and access platform for emergency vehicles.
The Epilobs project is a new way of living in the city.
It is a simple and rational volumetry that offers additional space to the inhabitants.
It is generous, double-facing housing with comfortable double loggias that allow residents to enjoy a private outdoor space at any time of the year.
These are links between common and private spaces with real architectural value: from the arrival at the residence to the door of the dwelling, the inhabitant or visitor will cross a succession of varied spaces where light, vegetation, and minerals follow one another, transforming a simple journey into a real walk.
Finally, there are generous outdoor communal spaces where there is a succession of paths, clearings where children can play, and an urban forest where everyone can stroll, cross paths, and meet.
Project: The Epilobs
Architects: Guiraud Manenc + Gault Architectes
Lead Architect: Antoine Guiraud and Etienne Manenc
Client: Domofrance
Contractor: Guiraud Manenc + Gault Architectes
Photographers: Vincent Monthiers
