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Le Masque de Fer
Le Masque de Fer
Tourcoing, France
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Other Projects by D'HOUNDT+BAJART architects&associates
Le Masque de Fer
Tourcoing, France
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2013
SIZE
10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft
BUDGET
$1M - 5M
Iron mask, ghost of Paradise
Born out of the re-qualification of a former Catholic school of Tourcoing in social housing, the residence Winoc-Chocqueel is completed by the construction of the old hollow tooth neighbor. In this long, narrow, unplanted street, almost entirely composed of houses in a row, the residence surprised by the treatment of the façade of the new construction. Above the ground floor - where a porch overlooks the old schoolyard converted into a parking lot - it is clad in a multi-faceted metal mask that rises to the gutter of the old school. This ambitious reconversion is distinguished by two wishes: to create an architectural event and refuse to dispense with the superfluous.
Overflowing the vacuum
True plastic composition, the new construction contrasts with the rigorism of the old religious school. Made of expanded metal lacquered, its facade is an assembly of triangles of various dimensions, thought as a continuous surface. It comes to rest from the first level, slightly overhang from the alignment of neighboring constructions.
Modeled as by repentance, it evokes a crumpled paper, then smoothed out of the flat of the hand, whose folds remain always visible - on a plain paper, the facets thus created appear in different colors. Due to its mesh, the material reflects light differently depending on its orientation, for even greater volume printing. The three shades of lacquer used reinforce the effect of depth. This strange volume shelters and reveals what was previously empty, a ghost space hidden behind a mask.
Where the fantasy rises
The transformation of the main building, classified as a historical monument, could almost go unnoticed as it is played out in detail. The intervention is minimal, almost superficial. It is enough, however, to change the perception of the building, like a flower in the buttonhole of a uniform.
Originally, all the windows on the ground floor are overhung by a pattern of bricks in relief, extracted from the Christian cross which appears above the main entrance of the building. This motif is taken from black glazed bricks and distributed randomly over the entire brick surface of the façade. Their fanciful disposition, defeating the religious symbolism of the cross, recalls the dissemination of pollen by the wind or a swarm of swallows departing for distant landscapes.
To give coherence to the whole, the splashes of the windows of the whole residence are painted in different shades of gray. They create a colorful rhythm, emphasize the eyes of the armor and catch the eye of the one who passes quickly in the street.
In addition to lightening the building to the austere and massive barracks architecture, these ornaments gently inscribe the façade in the architectural tradition of local dwelling, where the brick houses, at first all similar, are distinguished by Small notes of color (touches of piano in bricks, ceramics, mosaics ...) or by projecting volumes (bow-windows, lambrequins, supports of windows ...).
The ambition of happiness
The structure, floors and insulation of the building have been strengthened to provide the necessary guarantees for housing in terms of strength and energy performance. To reduce heating costs and improve living comfort, ceiling heights have been lowered, except at the bay level, to maintain maximum brightness.
The North-South orientation of the building prompted the architects to imagine an alternative to the central distribution corridor, which would have created mono-oriented apartments. The creation of external circulations at the rear of the building made it possible to make crossing dwellings, all benefiting from an ideal sunshine. The existing central staircase has been transformed into an open space, a vertical open-plan circulation. Today it is on a metal gangway, where the doors of the apartments open.
Depending on their orientation and point of view, the expanded metal panels used for the guardrails - as for the facade - offer a different perception, which overcomes the relentless horizontality of the building. Colors of vertical, gray, white and apple green contribute to the search for a new rhythm. In use, thanks to the overhanging position of the street and the space opened by the old school, the passageways offer a beautiful viewpoint on the neighborhood and are a space for exchange between neighbors. Like shared balconies, the exterior circulations acquire functions that would not have had closed corridors and improve the quality of life of the inhabitants.
Born out of the re-qualification of a former Catholic school of Tourcoing in social housing, the residence Winoc-Chocqueel is completed by the construction of the old hollow tooth neighbor. In this long, narrow, unplanted street, almost entirely composed of houses in a row, the residence surprised by the treatment of the façade of the new construction. Above the ground floor - where a porch overlooks the old schoolyard converted into a parking lot - it is clad in a multi-faceted metal mask that rises to the gutter of the old school. This ambitious reconversion is distinguished by two wishes: to create an architectural event and refuse to dispense with the superfluous.
Overflowing the vacuum
True plastic composition, the new construction contrasts with the rigorism of the old religious school. Made of expanded metal lacquered, its facade is an assembly of triangles of various dimensions, thought as a continuous surface. It comes to rest from the first level, slightly overhang from the alignment of neighboring constructions.
Modeled as by repentance, it evokes a crumpled paper, then smoothed out of the flat of the hand, whose folds remain always visible - on a plain paper, the facets thus created appear in different colors. Due to its mesh, the material reflects light differently depending on its orientation, for even greater volume printing. The three shades of lacquer used reinforce the effect of depth. This strange volume shelters and reveals what was previously empty, a ghost space hidden behind a mask.
Where the fantasy rises
The transformation of the main building, classified as a historical monument, could almost go unnoticed as it is played out in detail. The intervention is minimal, almost superficial. It is enough, however, to change the perception of the building, like a flower in the buttonhole of a uniform.
Originally, all the windows on the ground floor are overhung by a pattern of bricks in relief, extracted from the Christian cross which appears above the main entrance of the building. This motif is taken from black glazed bricks and distributed randomly over the entire brick surface of the façade. Their fanciful disposition, defeating the religious symbolism of the cross, recalls the dissemination of pollen by the wind or a swarm of swallows departing for distant landscapes.
To give coherence to the whole, the splashes of the windows of the whole residence are painted in different shades of gray. They create a colorful rhythm, emphasize the eyes of the armor and catch the eye of the one who passes quickly in the street.
In addition to lightening the building to the austere and massive barracks architecture, these ornaments gently inscribe the façade in the architectural tradition of local dwelling, where the brick houses, at first all similar, are distinguished by Small notes of color (touches of piano in bricks, ceramics, mosaics ...) or by projecting volumes (bow-windows, lambrequins, supports of windows ...).
The ambition of happiness
The structure, floors and insulation of the building have been strengthened to provide the necessary guarantees for housing in terms of strength and energy performance. To reduce heating costs and improve living comfort, ceiling heights have been lowered, except at the bay level, to maintain maximum brightness.
The North-South orientation of the building prompted the architects to imagine an alternative to the central distribution corridor, which would have created mono-oriented apartments. The creation of external circulations at the rear of the building made it possible to make crossing dwellings, all benefiting from an ideal sunshine. The existing central staircase has been transformed into an open space, a vertical open-plan circulation. Today it is on a metal gangway, where the doors of the apartments open.
Depending on their orientation and point of view, the expanded metal panels used for the guardrails - as for the facade - offer a different perception, which overcomes the relentless horizontality of the building. Colors of vertical, gray, white and apple green contribute to the search for a new rhythm. In use, thanks to the overhanging position of the street and the space opened by the old school, the passageways offer a beautiful viewpoint on the neighborhood and are a space for exchange between neighbors. Like shared balconies, the exterior circulations acquire functions that would not have had closed corridors and improve the quality of life of the inhabitants.
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