FREAKS
freearchitects answered an add from a private client wishing to build
an extension on the roof of an existing loft-alike housing building
in Saint-Ouen (northern neighbourhood of Paris).
The
context is very specific since the street contains mainly one to two
storeys houses while the near neighbourhood is composed by ten to
fifteen storeys high housing buildings.
The
client did not required a proper extension but aimed to welcome a new
neighbour to be installed on the roof of his house. The project had
to deal with the existing configuration (walls and structures) of the
building where the client's family was living and where they kept on
leaving during the time of the building process.
The
client had the wish to build the whole project on his own. As
architects, it is always hard to deal with that specific requirement
since it gets really delicate to keep on having a professional
control onto the building process. But we understood also that the
house consisted in a self-motivated project and we worked on
fabrication systems that could allow him to be as autonomous as
possible. That's why we proposed to go for a construction process,
easy to manipulate, based on wood particles and prefabricated
structures (Finn Forest®).
Details
and materials are basic so then the building process did not took too
long and the new neighbour family could enter the house within the
expected schedule.
Self-construction
in addition with basic materials explain why the total amount of
budget ended so low and looks very competitive and attractive within
the critical Parisian context.
As
far as sustainability is concerned we personally don't believe much
in an authoritative approach that would disable any other
considerations (aesthetic, space, program...). Our point is to
control as much as possible the inherent constraints in the project :
the optimization of the spaces inside the house as well as it's
orientation towards sunlight in addition with a construction system
that did not require much machinery for moving or lifting make the
project sustainable in itself by the end. Moreover wood construction
is not so common in France and prefabricated houses are just being
accepted nowadays by the population and private clients.
After
the building was achieved we architects went for a final “visit”
in a company of a photographer. Costumed up as burglars, we pretended
to break into the house, entering through the windows. Who better
than the architects can go and steal within the houses they designed
themselves?