Between the residential units and the hotel residence, above the tunnel of the line 13 metro, a landscaped garden allows each program to enjoy beautiful views, while clearing the existing views of the RATP offices. This garden provides the space needed to link the different programs.
To the south-east, the hotel residence is the other strong signal that holds the crossroads and gives a coherent shape to the whole block.
Its slenderness echoes that of the offices. A cousin of the office building, the hotel residence follows the stacking principle of the floor plates, with floor-height grids specific to this program.
The acroterion of the upper technical terrace is designed to conceal the technical equipment, while maintaining a special relationship with the sky, thus distinguishing the hotel residence as a strong signal in the distric.
This void is just as perceptible and necessary for pedestrians as it is for the wider landscape, opening up views between the buildings and into the distance.
The three buildings that make up Block B, around the Asnières Les Courtilles metro station, express a family resemblance without losing their individuality. Textures, materials and volumes shift from one building to the next. Articulations allow the design and texture of facades to be adapted to different programs, while creating an indissociable, coherent whole.
This gene, common to all programs, is expressed in the work on texture and striation. Whether in concrete or metal, this is the texture of these buildings, the material that catches the light.
Based on the same principle as the offices, the hotel residence takes the form of a stack of floors set into a main body.
The floors are makes by the same metal as the offices. Ribbed and shiny, it catches the light in a shimmering effect. The main body of the building is clad in dark metal. The openings in the bedrooms and bathrooms are sometimes attached to the lintel, sometimes to the apron wall, creating a musical composition.
The volumetry of the whole takes on an elegant, slender character, in which the treatment of the crown takes on its full meaning.
Largely glazed, the rooms offer beautiful views over the city, like a shelter perched in the Asnières sky.
Photographie : Sergio Grazia
