The commune of Boulogne-Billancourt, originally a Parisian suburb, will become part of the new metropolitan area - "Greater Paris" from January 1. An important industrial center today is actively changing: modern residential and public buildings are being erected on the site of the Renault factory buildings that were closed in the early 1990s. The large-scale project, called "Ile Seguin - Rives de Seine" (Ile Seguin - Rives de Seine), unites an area of 74 hectares, including a significant part of the land in the bend of the Seine and the actual island of Seguin. About 80 architects are taking part in its implementation, including several stars of the first magnitude.
The entire vast territory is divided into three parts. In the center of the middle one, called "Trapezium", is located the A5 section, which is divided between the secondary school (it will be built by 2018) and the recently completed complex of social housing for 110 apartments Rive Seine. The total area of the building, which consists of two long and rather narrow "plates" - 9,129 m2.
The facade facing the street has 7 floors, while the upper ones are somewhat narrowed, forming a semblance of attics and visually reducing the height of the building. The plane, lined with white metal plates, is additionally divided into smaller blocks by verticals of open loggias, "tightened" by a strict but whimsical mesh made of anodized aluminum. It is characteristic that the corner of the building is marked with a separate wicker "turret". All this complex composition, according to the architects, refers to the Parisian houses of Baron Haussmann. And the active use of metal and, albeit very large and elegant, but mesh, unobtrusively reminds of the industrial past of the region.
The second, even thinner and lower "plate" has a similar fractional structure and the same narrowing in the area of the upper floors, but it is trimmed not with metal, but with wood - it is it that will border the school with its rear facade. More secluded apartments are located here. This part is connected to the main body by a hinged transition. The result was a narrow and extended courtyard, in order to emphasize the intimacy and comfort of which, it was planted with birches. You can get into this secluded corner hidden from prying eyes either through the end passage under the transition, or through hardly noticeable passages in the lower parts of the loggias. There is a two-level underground car park under the residential complex.
