Excerpt: Les Carrés de Bellefontaine, a housing project by TAA (Taillandier Architectes Associés), features a unique design characterized by loggias and balconies interconnected through volumes. These volumes animate the façades of the project through materials like glass, concrete, wood, and metal. Positioned in a staggered manner, these apartment blocks create a public space with trees along the street.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] In the southwest of Toulouse, “Les Carrés de Bellefontaine” consists of a mixed-use program: collective social housing, a professional training center, a restaurant and private office spaces. The project is composed of 5 apartment blocks 4 stories high and implemented according to the historic north/south Mirail masterplan drawn by the architect George Candilis in the sixties.
The main blocks are interconnected by volumes composed of loggias and balconies, while a secondary block of intermediate housing 2 to 3 stories high is set back at the rear of the project and completes the composition organised around a central garden occupying the centre of the project. The positioning of the blocks in relation to the street creates a staggered set-back from the public space. These spaces are planted with trees lining the street as is typical of the neighbourhood.
Every apartment block has an independent entrance and hallway in order to have a maximum of 4 apartments per landing. The majority of apartments benefit from a double or triple exposition and all apartments have large balconies or loggias partially shaded by wooden slats protecting the privacy of these spaces. These volumes of loggias and balconies animate the façades of the project. The choice of materials is voluntarily reduced to a minimum: glass, concrete, wood and metal.
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