Urban Infill

Location: Paris, France
Project: Housing

Advisor: John Enright

Prize: 2nd Place at the Paris Affordable Housing Challenge

Urban Infill mines the thousands of open spaces located throughout Paris in the shape of its urban court-yards to use as added affordable housing sites.

This project utilizes the forgotten spaces that exist everywhere in Paris, filters them by size and fills them. The Parisien courtyard blocks are born a new with a core that create a new community by offering the top floor to the residents of the entire block, dedicating it to a communal garden and leisure area. The following floors below are dedicated to micro units for the generation that can't leave their parents home.

The proposed 1037 masses respect the basic building distance regimentation and sun/cross ventilation requirements of the existing context. In total there is 1.969.713 m2 of added area and 6.354.253 m3 of volume added throughout the city, with this method the amount of housing in the city increases by 81.500 new 15m2/30m2 units in the center of Paris which represent up to 135.000 people that can finally move into the city.

The proposed 1037 masses respect the basic building distance regimentation and sun/cross ventilation requirements of the existing context. In total there is 1.969.713 m2 of added area and 6.354.253 m3 of volume added throughout the city, with this method the amount of housing in the city increases by 81.500 new 15m2/30m2 units in the center of Paris which represent up to 135.000 people that can finally move into the city.

Urban Mass Generation

In the past few centuries with the population growth and urban emigration en mass to cities where millions live where thousands used to, the situation has mutated not to housing quality but to the lack thereof, thus, the need for densification has increased.

Europe as a region that holds immense history through its standing architecture is a particular complex situation where the need for more is supplanted by regulations and height limitations, thus, Urban Infill offers a branched typology as a solution within the existing parameters found in the city, the objects generated through various sets of proportions.

The proposal is effectively invisible to the 35 million tourists that visit Paris yearly and enjoy the beautiful boulevards and typical architecture and feed the city making it its biggest economic input, while still densifying the 2.4 million habitant city center which is currently the second most expensive city worldwide, this proposal as a whole not only alters Paris entire urban fabric but by bringing 81.500 micro units, it houses the thousands of people that just need a home.

Study of Typical Mass

The overall shape of the objects are all created according to the same set of rules creating 1037 buildings that are produced by the city to its most fundamental aspects, from the need of housing to the its shape.

The process starts with the offset of the outline of the selected 1037 courtyard outlines in a logic where the courtyards existing building height is used to produce the proportion of the offset distance, thus 1/3 of the existing height is offset to the interior of the courtyard outline as a buffer between the context and the new courtyard mass, furthermore the tapering of the courtyard mass according to basic sun needs for the existing buildings allow an even greater buffer creating an open and light space.

The micro units due to their variability of floor plan exist as open spaces with a functional wall module that holds storage, kitchen and bathroom contained in it, these modules would also be prefabricated offsite and assembled onsite, the modules would stack up vertically for a simple piping scheme across all the proposed masses.

Detail

The construction process of the proposed 1037 masses would use the regions material of choice for its base structure, concrete would serve as sturdy and long lasting foundation and core for the stairwell and elevator while using more sustainable light steel framing for the rest of the building, by utilizing this method the buildings can be cut into smaller pieces to ease the logistics of building within a courtyard, these pieces would be prefabricated off location to minimize the construction time within the residential courtyard. The curtain wall system would be produced alongside the steel framing system and quickly put into place.

The Glazing material would be Low-E two layered frosted glass to allow sufficient thermal qualities while still allowing plenty of refracted sunlight into all the units.

The exterior look of the proposed masses utilizes minimal opaque surface to create a sense openness in an already very dense and crammed area, while the frosted glass ensure basic privacy needs are met for the new courtyard residents. By not utilizing simple glass the issue with glass glare and interior greenhouse effect is eliminated while still retaining its most positive characteristics.