Housing in La Courrouze, France

This new eco-district is located on a former military and industrial wasteland

in La Courrouze, Rennes,
The completed project provides a total of 76 new homes for the La Courrouze
development zone, a growing neighborhood that covers an area of 140 hectares
 Housing in La Courrouz
Around the site
• To the south there is a recent
housing estate made up of small
collective housing units. There is a
difference of about one metre
between the levels of the existing
housing estate and the land.
• To the west of the land, the existing
sports ground is being kept, and
included in the public parkland
bordering the operation, and linked
to it by footpaths.
• On the North side of the Boulevard
de Cleunay there is a railway line,
which is a source of noise pollution
near to the land
• To the east, the shale wall
demolished during the work to
widen the Rue Claude Bernard will
be rebuilt along the new boundary.
 Housing in La Courrou

The taller tower block is located in the northern

part of the land and does not cast a shadow on the
other buildings.

Its position on the edge of the site justifies the

building’s outline as a tall signal.

The two high-rises share a semi-underground car

park.

The free layout obtained through the "campus"

concept

This project offers morphological and typological

diversity around a large shared garden. The great
height of some of the buildings means that ground
can be made available for a garden that federates
all the constructions.

A: 26 flats,2 duplexes B: 6 terraced houses

C: 17,2 duplexes D: 23 terraced duplexes
 Housing in La Courrouz
North tower block
The North tower block, the taller one, is
the most imposing in the distant urban
landscape, in particular from Rennes city
center

This is why the top section is different, the

last two floors having special volumetric:
pulled back from the main body, creation of a kind of
parapet walk.

These architectural arrangements assert the desire to

turn towards the city and its centre, even though due
to the orientation and the noise pollution from the
railway line the north facade is less opened up and
more height is given to the south facade, thereby
giving the tower a rather unusual skyline.

The tower’s main body is wrapped on the north, east and west
facades in a smooth, shiny mantle of vertical metallised ribbed
cladding covering insulation on the outside of the building
structure, in contrast with the more sculptural, mineral
Appearance of the south facade.

On the ground floor, the tower fuselage is set on a brick base

on the plaza ground or on the slightly sloping ground of the
grassy areas.
Housing in La Courrouz
 Housing in La Courrouz
South tower block

• The South tower block, which is lower and

less slender in its proportions, has a
dissymmetrical fuselage
• This differentiation between the east and
west facades is also emphasised in the
colour of the casing of vertical ribbed
cladding which wraps around and insulates
the north, east and west facades.
• The treatment of the south facade, and the
ground floor base, are the same as on the
first tower block. The rake on the fuselage
is continuous all the way up to the sloping
ridge.
INDIVIDUAL UNITS Housing in La Courrouz

The volumetric of the six housing

units at the foot of the tower
blocks are one-storey houses with
sloping roofs opening widely onto
the east-west exposure so that the
two towers bookending them to
the north and south will not spoil
the view or block the sunlight.
 Housing in La Courrouz
The building materials and colors
• ’Restrict the number of materials used’, chosen for their aesthetics and durability,
and their ability to blend together inside the operation and with their nearby
urban setting, as well as their potential technically to meet the targets of passive
insulation and long-term economy set for this project.
• The colours associated with these materials tend to set them off against each
other, and to emphasise to a greater or lesser degree certain special features
linked to use (loggias) or to volumetric and architectural expression (the tower
facades).

The towers
• The facades on the north tower are covered on the north, east and west sides
from the first to the eighth floors with vertical corrugated metallised cladding,
and the same cladding for the last two floors.
• The ground floor base is lined with black brick
• The entire height of the south front is in surface coated concrete, its taupe
colour verging on rust, likewise on the outer faces of the terraces - projecting
loggias. The inner faces of the loggias are in brighter colours, greens, yellows,
pinks and reds, to make these "outdoor rooms" feel more like part of the home
• On the top floors the solid breast walls on the projecting boxes are replaced
by coloured glass guard rails.
Housing in La Courrou
Housing in La Courrouz
Housing in La Courrouz
Housing in La Courrouz
Thank You

Slide by Srimathi Paari

M Arch
Periyar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology