Excerpt: Le Copenhague, designed by Christophe Rousselle Architecte, emerges as a single, sober volume with simple shapes that oscillates between massiveness and transparency due to the alternation between concrete and glass. The building is configured as a large solid body of almost white concrete. The use of raw concrete has been chosen for being a unifying element – sober and elegant -, for its robust and durable quality, as well as for its structural advantage.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] This residential project, located on the outskirts of Paris, emerges as a single, sober volume with simple shapes that oscillates between massiveness and transparency due to the alternation between concrete and glass.
The building is configured as a large solid body of almost white concrete, which contains 21 apartments distributed over 6 stories and which is inserted in a commercial plinth that tries to disappear through its glazed facade. The solid parts of this plinth are conceived in a dark tone that suppresses this level and provides a shadow in which the rest of the building is supported, giving lightness to the main volume.
Each facade was carefully thought out, and they provide two different ways of approaching to the public space. On one hand, one is conceived as a game of subtractions as you level up, producing generous outdoor spaces for the upper-story apartments. On the contrary, the other is thought of as a smooth element that is randomly interrupted by the different glazed openings. These two ways of facing the street, fit harmoniously into a single coherent body thanks to the mono materiality of the volume.
The use of raw concrete has been chosen for being a unifying element – sober and elegant -, for its robust and durable quality, as well as for its structural advantage when creating outdoor spaces that are a real attraction and that favor a long-term qualitative use. The polished finish, very similar to metal, was achieved through the use of a very smooth metal formwork and a light gray tint which is finished with a satin clear coat.
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