Architect：NOMOS

Location：Rue des Combes, 2034 Peseux, Suisse

Project Year：2019

Category：Apartments Housing

The requalification of this plot, which used to house a car repair shop, creates a small oasis in an otherwise bland environment.

The piece of land on which the project sits had almost no value: no view and little clearance, along a road with heavy traffic, surrounded on both sides by mediocre buildings. Unable to find qualities in the existing context, the objective was to build one.

Before reflecting on the typologies of the apartments that would shape the volume, the first intervention consisted in creating a proper environment for them. The location of the building allowed to clear a maximum of ground to the west for trees to be planted, which will become the vis-à-vis of future tenants.

A staircase and passageway system is developed on the east facade, in order to create distance between neighbours, allowing all the units to be distributed from the outside. Thus, a strong dichotomy is established between the two main facades, based on their orientation and use.

The 14 apartments offer residents the qualities inherent to traditional single-family housing, but grouped and organized in a single unit. Their staggered arrangement reinforces the uniqueness and privacy of each accommodation, made possible by the creation of duplexes, inverted from floor to floor.

On the west side, the loggias develop on double heights and therefore mark the different housing units. They extend the interior living space in an indoor/outdoor dance and take advantage of the garden. 

On the east side, the generous passageways offer a strolling route for inhabitants and create a transition between public and private spheres. Imagined as a private path distributing villas, it also serves as a meeting space. 

The particularity of this project lies in the porosity of its two main facades, both dressed in loggias and passageways that relegate them to the background. The alternation of window openings creates a pattern made of textured minerals and smooth metal.

Four materials make the facade: precast concrete, textured plaster, anodized aluminum and glass. Precast concrete, used delicately on the east and west facades, dominates the south and north facades to ancre the building on a solid base and ensure its durability.

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