Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Cenon

Cenon
© Philippe Ruault
Cenon
© Philippe Ruault

SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT
Franck Boutté, Transsolar (competition)

STRUCTURE CONSULTANT
Khephren Ingénierie

FAÇADES CONSULTANT
DVVD

MEP CONSULTANT
LBE fluides

COST CONSULTANT
Georges Ventre

TECHNICAL INSPECTION
Socotec

LANDSCAPE
Ewen Le Rouic, Irène Djao Rakitine, Céline Aubernias

COMPETITION TEAM MEMBERS
Pawel Krzeminski, Lina Lagerström, Kasia Jackowska, Noélie Sénéclauze

GRAPHICS
Natalie Saccudefranchi

PHOTOGRAPHS
Philippe Ruault

AREA
6852.0 m²

YEAR
2012

LOCATION
Cenon, France

CATEGORY
Apartments

Cenon has a typical suburban form of disparate housing blocks spread out over a flat territory, but on an early visit to the site, Habiter Autrement found a beautiful umbrella pine tree growing there, and the idea of making a pine wood became the starting point of the project.

Cenon
© Philippe Ruault
Cenon
© Philippe Ruault

The wood creates a specific environment to which the building form can relate and, when full-grown, the trees will help to create a pleasant distance between apartments, giving their inhabitants the feeling of being in their own park without abandoning a vital density.

The apartments are unusually spacious, around 150 sqm, and unusually long, about 30 m.

Cenon
© Philippe Ruault
Cenon
© Philippe Ruault

The building’s E-shape gives half of the apartments a triple orientation, with internal visual connections between facades. To the south, foldable glass walls open to loggias with thick rectangular railings.

The undersides of the loggias and the railings are tinted with a gradation of bordeaux reds, creating an abstract linear pattern on the south facade.

Cenon
© Philippe Ruault
Cenon
© Philippe Ruault

On the north facade, winter gardens are enclosed by vertical glass panels of varying transparency, a reference to French ateliers d'artiste (artist’s studios).

On the lateral facades, which face the courtyards, the primary focus is the pleasure of colours and reflections.

Cenon
© Philippe Ruault
Cenon
© Philippe Ruault

The interior of the window shutters are painted in white, yellow and orange, and the stainless steel cladding reflects the bright colours and the changing sunlight.

The roof terrace is covered with vegetable gardens for each resident, where they can enjoy sunny afternoons, cultivating tomatoes and cucumbers while looking out over the pine wood below.

Cenon
© Philippe Ruault


Cenon
© Philippe Ruault
Cenon
© Philippe Ruault
Cenon
© Philippe Ruault
Cenon
© Philippe Ruault


Cenon
© Philippe Ruault
Cenon
© Philippe Ruault
Cenon
© Philippe Ruault
Cenon
© Philippe Ruault


Cenon
Site Plan
Cenon
Typical Floor Plan


Cenon
Section

Ateliers Jean Nouvel
T +33 1 49238383
Ateliers Jean Nouvel
10 Cité d'Angoulême, 75011 Paris, France