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Researchers and student housing
Researchers and student housing
Grenoble, France
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Other Projects by Herault Arnod Architects
Researchers and student housing
Grenoble, France
Type
YEAR
2011
SIZE
500,000 sqft - 1,000,000 sqft
La Maison des Etudiants
is a student residence built in the 1930s. It is an eight-storey building,
sober in style and with a plain facade, part of the skyline of the Grands
Boulevard, a distinctive urban feature of the city of Grenoble. Originally, the
building had fairly spacious rooms but only basic facilities, with communal
showers and bathrooms. On the ground floor, at mezzanine level above the
pavement, was the university cafeteria. Completely cut off from the street by
its elevated position and its opaque pedestal structure, its rear extended into
the kitchens, built on a single floor.
The remit here was to
regenerate the structure by remodelling the existing building and constructing
Cité Galilée, a residence for young foreign research students. The challenge
was to find a solution for the new volume, given that the space available was
extremely tight, while also doing as much as possible to protect the views from
the rooms in the existing building. The design of the extension was determined
by this need for the two parts, old and new, to coexist without adversely
affecting each other.
The old kitchens were demolished
to create a garden. Modern in its style and distinctive in colour, Cité Galilée
has the appearance of a new growth grafted onto the existing structure. It
constitutes a single volume, a diagonal mass sculpted to protect the views and
to comply with planning requirements. It is detached from the ground, thereby
releasing transparent communal spaces on the ground floor and a wide bicycle
shelter porch. The first two floors consist of bedrooms arranged in three
directions, and form a platform which turns vertically and narrows from the
third floor to form a communal terrace. From here on up, the bedrooms are
distributed on either side of a glass-enclosed gangway. The Eastern facade is
folded to provide views over the Bastille, Grenoble’s iconic mountain, from
every room, and each room extends into a balcony.
The new building’s
architectural style is founded both on differentiation – in order to avoid any
confusion between the 1930s building and the contemporary extension – and
respect for the pre-existing design. Both parts are single coloured, the
original white, the extension orange. This paradoxical assembly generates a new
entity, a composition in which each of the elements reinforces the other’s
identity.
From the boulevard, Cité
Galilée is invisible and the extension very discreet. The major transformation
in the lower part: the old mezzanine-level restaurant slab has gone, a new
surface has been created at boulevard level, and this space has become a
reception hall. The opaque sections have been replaced by a fully glazed facade
on either side of the great hall, creating total transparency between street
and garden.
Inside, the platforms
have been cleared to make way for a new layout for the bedrooms, which have become
fully equipped studios. They are arranged on the same principles in Cité
Galilée and in the MDE, with a surface area of 18 m² in the Cité and different
shapes and sizes on the different floors of the MDE. Each has a bathroom, a
separate WC, a kitchen, a built-in bed, a desk and storage space. Their
ergonomics have been tailored by the architects down to the smallest details,
with the aim of making maximum possible use of the available space within a
tight budget. Rooms are subdivided into two areas: a sleeping and studying area
to the front, and a lower section consisting of the entrance, kitchen, bathroom
and WC. The latter is styled like a large piece of furniture, lined with
multiply birchwood panels. This same material is also used for the beds, the
desks and the shelving.
is a student residence built in the 1930s. It is an eight-storey building,
sober in style and with a plain facade, part of the skyline of the Grands
Boulevard, a distinctive urban feature of the city of Grenoble. Originally, the
building had fairly spacious rooms but only basic facilities, with communal
showers and bathrooms. On the ground floor, at mezzanine level above the
pavement, was the university cafeteria. Completely cut off from the street by
its elevated position and its opaque pedestal structure, its rear extended into
the kitchens, built on a single floor.
The remit here was to
regenerate the structure by remodelling the existing building and constructing
Cité Galilée, a residence for young foreign research students. The challenge
was to find a solution for the new volume, given that the space available was
extremely tight, while also doing as much as possible to protect the views from
the rooms in the existing building. The design of the extension was determined
by this need for the two parts, old and new, to coexist without adversely
affecting each other.
The old kitchens were demolished
to create a garden. Modern in its style and distinctive in colour, Cité Galilée
has the appearance of a new growth grafted onto the existing structure. It
constitutes a single volume, a diagonal mass sculpted to protect the views and
to comply with planning requirements. It is detached from the ground, thereby
releasing transparent communal spaces on the ground floor and a wide bicycle
shelter porch. The first two floors consist of bedrooms arranged in three
directions, and form a platform which turns vertically and narrows from the
third floor to form a communal terrace. From here on up, the bedrooms are
distributed on either side of a glass-enclosed gangway. The Eastern facade is
folded to provide views over the Bastille, Grenoble’s iconic mountain, from
every room, and each room extends into a balcony.
The new building’s
architectural style is founded both on differentiation – in order to avoid any
confusion between the 1930s building and the contemporary extension – and
respect for the pre-existing design. Both parts are single coloured, the
original white, the extension orange. This paradoxical assembly generates a new
entity, a composition in which each of the elements reinforces the other’s
identity.
From the boulevard, Cité
Galilée is invisible and the extension very discreet. The major transformation
in the lower part: the old mezzanine-level restaurant slab has gone, a new
surface has been created at boulevard level, and this space has become a
reception hall. The opaque sections have been replaced by a fully glazed facade
on either side of the great hall, creating total transparency between street
and garden.
Inside, the platforms
have been cleared to make way for a new layout for the bedrooms, which have become
fully equipped studios. They are arranged on the same principles in Cité
Galilée and in the MDE, with a surface area of 18 m² in the Cité and different
shapes and sizes on the different floors of the MDE. Each has a bathroom, a
separate WC, a kitchen, a built-in bed, a desk and storage space. Their
ergonomics have been tailored by the architects down to the smallest details,
with the aim of making maximum possible use of the available space within a
tight budget. Rooms are subdivided into two areas: a sleeping and studying area
to the front, and a lower section consisting of the entrance, kitchen, bathroom
and WC. The latter is styled like a large piece of furniture, lined with
multiply birchwood panels. This same material is also used for the beds, the
desks and the shelving.
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