Podcast. How the Paris-Saclay student residence anticipates the reversibility of housing
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For this episode, direction Palaiseau, in Essonne, south-west of Paris, to take an interest in the construction of innovative student accommodation: the Rosalind-Franklin university residence set in a parking lot in the Ecole polytechnique de Paris-Saclay district. This program was scary. Yet he inspired the Bruther agency (and to its Belgian associates in Baukunst) a flexible architecture, capable of accompanying changes in usage. With a U-shaped structure, a garden, color on the floors and a vast meeting space, this residence recalls the spirit of Le Corbusier or Oscar Niemeyer. Is it the symbol of the reversible architecture of tomorrow? Elements of answers in report with Judith Chétrit and in debate with the critical meeting of the City of Architecture and Heritagealso a partner of this podcast.
It’s a story. In the still very agricultural France of the 1950s, the Saclay plateau, about twenty kilometers from Paris, is nothing but fields. Bounded to the south and east by the Chevreuse valley and to the north by the Bièvre valley, it extends over the future departments of Essonne and Yvelines. This is where the State chose to set up the first research organizations in a program aimed at supporting, over several decades, the development of science and technology. Twenty years later, the decision was made to create a major scientific center: it was supposed to bring together, in the long term, at least 20% of research in France. The future heads must be able to be trained there: large schools, including Polytechnique and CentraleSupélec, settle on the plateau. Gradually the fields recede and the whole area becomes denser, but never enough to accommodate all the students. New homes always have to be built.
The architect Stéphanie Bru grew up in Evry, a new town in Essonne, and remembers the Saclay plateau “with its large potato fields”. At the time of competing for the project of Rosalind-Franklin student residence, in Palaiseau, she was therefore familiar with the site, which did not prevent her from asking herself a lot of questions. In this space “Practically empty, with the large EDF facility just opposite, with no place to hold on to, why build here? How to restore a little greenery? » But above all “how to manage the question of reversibility? » The program, which was to contain 192 housing units, involved in fact providing parking spaces likely to be transformed in turn into housing or offices, the modes of transport evolving towards fewer individual vehicles.
Today. Rather than spreading out, Stéphanie Bru chose stacking. The ground floor, partly glazed and partly open and crossing, has two levels of parking spaces on which are added another four levels devoted to housing. The tour de force lies in the impression of lightness that emerges. “The building is optimized on a fairly efficient frame basis which has allowed us to free up space on the ground floor on a double height, comments the architect. This large free plateau is made up of rather generous boxes, which contain what can be shops, or large work rooms, separated by a mirror in which the garden is reflected. »
Vehicles access the car park via a large suspended spiral, fluid and airy. The tenants go up to the floors by a staircase which, like a ribbon, seems to roll up on itself. It then unfolds in passageways and leads to studios, from 18 to 20 square meters, as well as shared duplexes. ” At the time of the transformation, you will just have to add facades and make the connections »explains Stéphanie Bru, housing corresponding to exactly 1.5 parking spaces.
The opinion of the experts. On the occasion of the critical meetings of the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, architects and journalists debated under the leadership of Francis Rambert, director of the department of architectural creation at the Cité. For him, the work of Stéphanie Bru and Alexandre Thériot within the Bruther agency goes far beyond the borders of France. Sophie Trelcat, journalist specializing in architecture, agrees: “They are among the most brilliant of their generation and I indeed hope to find them in major international competitions. They refer to Le Corbusier, to the Belgian Marcel Leborgne [pour la villa Dirickz, près de Bruxelles], but they have invented a vocabulary of their own. “In Palaiseau, she continues, it’s impressive. It looks like a simple building, with a slab, posts and beams, but the suspended ramp is a technical achievement, and the whole thing is nothing but elegance and beauty. They made the choice of superposition, it was very daring, and they succeeded. »
Isabelle Regnier, from World, also full of praise: “This architecture provokes joy. I don’t want this car park to turn into housing one day! » However, the journalist does not appreciate the campus in which Bruther’s residence is located. “She puts beauty in a grim environment. It is the first building in Saclay to break with the appalling cobblestones, huge and closed, which create a dystopia setting. » The same enthusiasm from the architect and journalist Philippe Trétiack: “It’s annoying for the debate: we all agree, this work is magnificent. The void below, the build on it, it’s intriguing. This building opens the imagination. I am thinking of parachutes, hot air balloons…” Architect and teacher Richard Scoffier draws this thought: “Finally, the real power, well, that’s it: when you can do, not do. The architect can give up, abdicate, opt for a bare construction which will perhaps then have more force. »
“Interesting Arch”
“Interesting Archi” highlights buildings with remarkable architecture and design. In each episode, listen to guided tours and lively debates, produced in partnership with the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine. Find all the episodes here.
“Interesting Archi”, a podcast produced and directed by Joséfa Lopez for The world, in partnership with the City of Architecture and Heritage. Report: Judith Chetrit. Voice-over: Isabelle Regnier. Directed by: Eyeshot. Graphic identity: Mélina Zerbib, Aurélien Débat. Partnership: Sonia Jouneau, Victoire Bounine.
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