Walwein Dwellings

Montreuil-sous-Bois, France, 2008

This project for sixty-four housing units lies within the urban layout defined by the Portuguese architect, Alvaro Siza. The location of the building and its envelope had previously been defined by this urban project whose aim was to open up the town centre to give onto the hills of Montreuil.
The programme takes the form of a Z-shaped building, with one part rising up ten storeys and the other six storeys. In order for the project to fit within the sixteen meter thickness of the envelope, the project proposes a façade principle based on wide balconies (2.50 meter deep) with sliding shutters on their external faces.
Great care has been taken to ensure the quality of the building’s interior and exterior finishes: aluminium and wood doors and windows, wood flooring, stucco render to the exteriors and lacquered aluminium shutters.
More than a simple interpretation, the intention was to provide a blueprint of the urban intentions expressed by Alvaro Siza’s initial project.