Dual-Use Vertical Village.

PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

• The coronavirus pandemic has fast-forwarded a scenario previously

thought impossible: billions of people have adapted to working at home.
• People’s work modes change overtime. The amount of space that they
need, the location of workspace and its relation with the rest of the
apartment change.
• This project proposes a new hybrid model—one that is able to conjugate
desire of intimacy and sociability, and the needs for live and work. It
brings together qualities of both apartment block typology and single
houses, and it serves as a catalyst for the proliferation of diverse
lifestyles. The project proposes active, playful living space that can be
transformed as desired, thereby accommodating a spectrum of scenarios.
• On the ground floor, the project opens domestic architecture to the
surrounding city. The inner street provides a new urban experience lined
with shops and outdoor seating. Shared terraces on upper levels are
spaces of conviviality that welcome the formation of social ties.
• At the unit scale, workspaces have been integrated into each unit in
different ways. Four spatial strategies are employed to transform
the apartment units: separate, split, expand and alternate. Rotating and
sliding partitions empower residents to reconfigure their interiors as their
lifestyles change overtime.

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical
Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical
Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical
Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical
Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use Vertical Village. PARIS
By Qin Ye Chen (GSD MArch I 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use. PARISBy Erik Fichter (MArch I AP 2022)
• Dual-Use negotiates habitat, preservation, and biodiversity in the center of Paris, while
creating a new and needed unit mix in one of the most tense real estate markets in Europe.
• La Petite Ceinture is 32 km long track-line circuiting Paris that originated in the 1850s and
lost its purpose in the 1930s. Since then, a corridor for vegetation unfolded. This project
imagines a reactivation of La Petite Ceinture by encouraging the cultivation of vegetation
and other species, as well as creating a pedestrian promenade that introduces are
coexistence of both.
• The site is located along a 200 m long segment of La Petite Ceinture, in the 19th
arrondissement. The track is elevated 5 m above ground and is covered by vegetation and
framed by large trees. While leaving the elevated track untouched, pockets are attached on
both sides that house communal centers, working spaces, and entrance lobbies on the
ground-floor.
• Residential buildings are being elevated above the track, framing the tracks below.
Between building and ground, the structure bundles to minimize its foundation impact. The
diagonal structure resists lateral forces as well as establishes a dialogue with the plants in
between. Based on sun exposure, soil depth, and height potential, the location of the plants
is designated.
• Consequently, La Petite Ceinture is repurposed as a public garden that attracts animals and
the local neighborhood. It is being activated through the voltage of residents above and
public spaces bellow, as well as the extension of the tracks in both directions that can
morph into a pedestrian infrastructure circulating Paris.
• While the structure is embedded in the facade, a free floor plan allows a range of unique
apartment perimeters while maintaining continuous vertical shafts for wet spaces and
kitchens. Each apartment has two entrance doors and a bended living room. This
configuration provides a greater flexibility; short term it can facilitate parallel uses, and long
term it enables for resizing households.
• The design has been developed by Erik Fichter. Feasibility studies and pro forma have been
developed in a partnership between Erik Fichter and Tristan Battistoni.
https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use. PARISBy Erik Fichter (MArch I AP 2022)

La Petite Ceinture is 32 km long

track-line circuiting Paris that
originated in the 1850s and lost its
purpose in the 1930s.

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use.
PARIS
By Erik
Fichter
(MArch I AP
2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use.
PARIS
By Erik
Fichter
(MArch I AP
2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use. PARISBy Erik Fichter (MArch I AP 2022)

Dual acts as an ecosystem to connect :

• People with People
• People with Nature
• People with History
• People with Paris
https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use. PARISBy Erik Fichter (MArch I AP 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use. PARISBy Erik Fichter (MArch I AP 2022)

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/
 Dual-Use. PARISBy Erik Fichter (MArch I AP 2022)

Each apartment has :

• 2 entrance doors
• A bended Living room
For :
• New Household Configuration
• Greater Flexibility
• Parallel Uses
• Resizeable Houshold
https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/dual-use-the-function-of-a-21st-century-urban-residential-block/