Craft

The building is divided into three main volumes, which are themselves fragmented and hollowed out to give the complex a domestic scale :

• The first is the lowest. It is covered by a sloping roof that follows the gradient of the land.
•  The second is covered by a roof-garden terrace shared by all the residents.
•  The third, and highest, marks the entrance to the new neighbourhood.

The building is crowned by a south-facing roof covered with photovoltaic panels.

Terraces, balconies and loggias provide each resident with a private outdoor space, and a roof terrace-garden enables residents to get together with their neighbors.

The first floor has been designed to accommodate programs open to the city and its inhabitants: repair and upcycling workshops, film and documentary screenings, and an upcycling demonstrator.

Craft aims to shake up ‘traditional’ housing production by encouraging users to personalise their homes. Four flats in the programme have been designed as raw shells that buyers can adapt and personalise as they wish, according to their desires, needs and means.

In practical terms, buyers have a blank canvas that they can finish and personalise themselves - within a coherent schedule of works - based on a ‘catalogue’ of possible options. This means that each of these four homes is potentially unique, with some buyers opting for a very large living area, and others opting for top-of-the-range features or, on the contrary, a more ‘raw’, industrial or loft style.

The possibility of personalising or upgrading homes over time is a particularly interesting prospect if we are to respond effectively to the needs of households as they make their way through the housing market. First-time buyers can buy a larger-than-standard home at a reasonable price - and have it evolve over time in line with events in family life, such as the arrival of children, moving out or moving back in.

The spacious homes will be delivered in the form of a rough shell with a sanitary block and a lighting point, and will therefore comply with their housing requirements.

The savings generated by the interior fit-out will considerably reduce the purchase price (around €1,000/m²), making it easier for first-time buyers and young professionals to buy homes, a target we feel is essential for the Craft project.

In order to carry out the development work, buyers will have to comply with a number of specific rules that will be set out in the co-ownership regulations: working hours, use of lifts, cleaning of communal areas, parking of vehicles in front of the entrances, and special access via a specific hall from the heart of the complex.

Purchasers will also receive a technical booklet that will play a key role in guiding them through the works, setting out the standards and rules in force that must be complied with, and in particular the types of authorisation required depending on the floor area created.