Villeneuve d’Ascq, 540 student housing units

The site of the University displays an urbanity of objects, buildings created ex nihilo, independent of each other. Conversely, the ambition to build a student residence “model” is made in the perspective of a shared convergence, so that the students who will share these premises are part of a common set. The project, built around an audacious gesture, reaches an iconic dimension relevant to the community. Reinterpreting the figure of the circle, the REÉFLEX project is a simple reading and a precise operation like a clock mechanism. Programs are clearly identified and accessible. The circular form allows the meeting between the collective (the central garden) and the individual (the crown of housing). Visible from the entrance hall, the garden-patio is a preserved park, sheltered from the wind. Convivial and generously vegetalized, it promotes practices of relaxation. Bridges and inner dwellings benefit from this shared central landscape.

Roof terraces are places of collective practice. Accessible and profitable to all students, these terraces are the complements of the green heart incarnated by the garden. They develop on several levels, connected by steps where the students can sit, new places of relaxation, and representation. In continuity with the entrance hall, the hall of the footsteps is presented as a large peristyle. It develops on the inner perimeter, in direct relation with the garden, and directs towards the different places of collective life. By connecting the hall and multipurpose rooms, it becomes the space of representation par excellence that privileges exchanges and meetings. The multipurpose rooms slide under the main building. Defined as elements independent of the structure, these circular spaces are open 360 °, ensuring flexibility and permeability. Combined, they allow effective communication to the different units of the program.

Project Info Architects: Hamonic+Masson & Associés Location : Villeneuve d’Ascq, France Year: 2012 Client: Lille Métropole Habitat. Architecture Team: Hamonic + Masson agent architect (Gaëlle Hamonic, Jean-Christophe Masson, Marie-Agnès Bailliencourt Arnaud Grenié, César Silva Urdaneta, Marco Lavit) + associés San Jose attorney general contractor Architect co-contractor: GB Architect Landscape: Bergama Building Structure Wood: SYLVA Council Graphic: Luxigon Cost: € 22,200,000 HT. Surface: 10,200 sq.m. Type: Residential