MVRDV

Ilot Queyries Apartment Building

Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode

ILOT QUEYRIES APARTMENT BUILDING

MVRDV

ARCHITECTS
MVRDV

CLIENTS
Kaufman & Broad, ADIM

LANDSCAPE DESIGN
Sabine Haristoy

FOUNDING PARTNERS IN CHARGE
Winy Maas

PARTNER
Bertrand Schippan, Jeroen Zuidgeest

DESIGN TEAM
Nils Christa, Marie Saladin, Thomas Boerendonk, Roxana Aron, Marco Gazzola, Adam Mierzwa, Florian Hoanen, Antoine Ceunebroucke, Michael Labory, Nicolas Land, Charlotte Kientz, Rouba Daham, Sarah Sioufi

VISUALIZATION
Antonio Luca Coco, Paolo Mossa Idra, Kirill Emelianov, Tomaso Maschietti, Constanza Cuccato

COPYRIGHT
MVRDV 2021 – (Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries, Frans de Witte, Fokke Moerel, Wenchian Shi, Jan Knikker)

MANUFACTURERS
AGROB BUCHTAL

CO ARCHITECTS
Flint

ARCHITECT
MVRDV

AREA
23000 m²

YEAR
2021

LOCATION
Bordeaux, France

CATEGORY
Mixed Use Architecture, Apartments, Residential

Text description provided by architect.

Ilot Queyries is a courtyard apartment building providing 308 homes – including 163 for social housing – parking, commercial space, and a rooftop restaurant in an intimate urban setting with plenty of light, air, and a large collective green space.

Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode

Located to the east of the River Garonne in Bordeaux, across from the city’s UNESCO World Heritage historic centre, the building is part of a new neighbourhood of four buildings master-planned by MVRDV alongside Joubert Architecture.

The project is envisaged as a test-bed for the principles of the neighbouring Bastide-Niel masterplan, also designed by MVRDV, which aims to combine the virtues of Bordeaux’s UNESCO World Heritage historic city – intimacy, surprise, and liveliness – with the density, ecology, light, and comfort of the modern city.

Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode

Ilot Queyries thus adopts the same approach as the Bastide-Niel masterplan: the building fills the site to its boundaries, lending an intimate feeling to the streetscape, while the roofs are arranged into carefully calibrated slopes to provide maximum ventilation, daylight, and sun to the building itself and to its neighbours.

The result, designed in partnership with local architects Flint, is a large, irregularly shaped courtyard building almost 200 metres long.

Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode

At 5,200m2, the large courtyard provides a park-like space for the residents; located one storey above ground level, it also hides the residents’ parking below.

The building responds to its surroundings on all sides: on the south-eastern end of the building, sections as low as one storey relate to the low-rise neighbours, while on the north-east, facing the river, it rises as high as nine storeys.

Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode

At this high point, a glass crown houses a restaurant with views of the river and the historic centre of Bordeaux beyond.

On all sides, the façades facing the street are lower than those facing the central courtyard. In accordance with the rules developed in the Bastide-Niel masterplan, the roof slopes vary between 14 degrees and 45 degrees depending on their relation to the sun.

Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode

These slopes create complex and interesting interior spaces, which help to define varied apartments in a wide range of sizes – making the building home to many different types of residents, while also giving a unique and homely feel to each living space.

The project’s street-facing façades present a muted, cream-coloured palette, blending in with the surroundings. However, the courtyard-facing façades are finished in a bright red textured stucco.

Together with the green courtyard landscape of 83 alder and birch trees and a variety of grasses, this presents a visually exciting environment to complement the liveliness of the park space.

Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode

At various locations, large portals through the building connect the interior courtyard to the outside, introducing flashes of colour that draw the attention of passers-by and inspire curiosity about the space inside.

"The Covid-19 pandemic showed everyone how valuable outdoor spaces close to their homes can be, and I hope Ilot Queyries can show that such amenities don’t require compromise”, says MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas.

Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode

“The building creates close and intimate streets without ugly parked cars thanks to its ample car parking. At the same time every apartment is provided a balcony or loggia, while the green park space becomes a wonderful community amenity."

"This project served as preparation for the grander plan of the Bastide Niel development”, adds Maas. “With this project we were able to test some of our ideas, which resulted in a masterplan with more greenery in the streets, better cost optimisation for façades, and more open courtyards."

Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode

Ilot Queyries is the largest building in a development of four buildings master-planned by MVRDV and Joubert Architecture.

Ilot Queyries itself was designed by MVRDV with co-architects Flint, while Joubert Architecture and Flint also designed the other buildings in the development. The landscape architecture of Ilot Queyries was designed by MVRDV in collaboration with Sabine Haristoy and Flint.

Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode


Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode
Ilot Queyries Apartment Building
© Ossip van Duivenbode

MVRDV
T +31 10 477 2860
MVRDV
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