The JEM Building is a development project that promotes and showcases a residential rental property consisting of three high-end apartments. It is situated above Gustavia, the capital of Swedish architecture on the island, offering a breathtaking top view of the harbor and its boats.
This project pays homage to the Swedish wooden hut and the local traditional craftsmanship of naval carpentry. It’s a bioclimatic, earthquake-resistant, and cyclone-resistant building, constructed using responsible bio-sourced and recycled materials, designed to minimize energy consumption as much as possible.
To mitigate its height, the project plays with shadows and light, creating the illusion of a single-story house floating above a stone pedestal. The stone base establishes urban continuity with the St. Barthelemy theater, structuring the street and intersection. Rooted in the Swedish stone cisterns of Gustavia, it echoes the angles of the dominant Swedish church tower overlooking the harbor on its facade.
At the lower part, this composition of angles, with solid areas and voids, serves multiple purposes: it acts as a sound trap for street noise, creates a kinetic and dynamic effect for passers-by, and imparts a sense of space to the narrow street. It also helps decreasing the project’s massiveness at its edge. The use of traditional stone masonry, continuing vertically over two levels, also creates the optical illusion of a single-level construction.
This base accommodates parking and a three-bedroom apartment on the ground floor and an additional level. Above the base, there are two apartments with ground-level gardens. The first, on the second floor, is nestled in the shadow of the top level, giving it the sensation of hovering above the base while detached from it. The second-floor apartment enjoys a spacious garden with a pool, embodying the concept of a townhouse with a breathtaking view of the harbor.
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